Penn State Lehigh Valley
A public school funding forum was held at Penn State Lehigh Valley on Wednesday.
(Matt Smith | lehighvalleylive.com file photo)
Lehigh Valley school district officials pushed for a fair, equitable and adequate state education funding formula during a public forum Wednesday night.
The forum was held at Penn State Lehigh Valley and hosted by the Education Voters of PA and the Keystone State Education Coalition.
Officials from Lehigh Valley school districts shared the mounting financial challenges they have faced as state funding has been slashed, employee pension costs have risen and charter schools have grown.
Bethlehem Area, Salisbury Township and Parkland school district leaders report that local taxpayers support 70 percent, 80 percent and 84 percent, respectively, of their school district budgets. But this hasn't stopped the state from sending down costly education mandates.
"We don't have a comprehensive approach to funding schools in Pennsylvania," said Susan Gobreski, executive director of Education Voters of PA.
There are three principles behind adequate school funding: student standards, adequacy and equity, Gobreski said. And there is a big difference between equitable and equal, she emphasized.
Bethlehem schools Superintendent Joseph Roy spoke about the dichotomy of being the 133rd wealthiest district in the state and a student-need population.
"We're not a poor school district yet 50 percent of our students are classified as economically disadvantaged," Roy said.
A fair funding formula will give districts the ability to plan and set goals, instead of putting out fires. Uncertain funding forces local taxpayers to shoulder more of a financial burden, said Rich Sniscak, Parkland superintendent.
Most years, school board will pass their budgets long before the state legislature finalizes the state budget, he said.
"In Parkland we have no other choice but to budget conservatively when considering Commonwealth funding," Sniscak said.
The Allentown School District has lost 20 percent of its staff and cut $80 million from its budget in recent years. It is also one of the nation's most economically disadvantaged school districts with a 50 percent mobility rate, Superintendent Russ Mayo said.
If you combine Bethlehem and Allentown's charter school tuition payments it is larger than 58 percent of Pennsylvania school district budgets, said Stacy M. Gober, Bethlehem chief financial officer.
"We are funding dual public school systems," Gober said.
Panelists each got to make a short pitch and then took questions from the audience. About 60 people were in attendance, including many district officials.
Districts named state funding, charter schools and employee pensions as the top challenges they want to see Harrisburg tackle.
Bethlehem could save $15 million if charter school students returned. It would cost $5.8 million to hire the needed 67 teachers, Roy said.
The small Salisbury Township School District is one of the wealthiest districts in the Lehigh Valley. But its poverty level now sits at 30 percent and it has English Language Learners learning 26 different languages.
And it has cut field trips and middle level world languages in recent years to try to keep annual average tax increases to $100, said Russ Giordano, Salisbury school board president.
"We have a very wide socioeconomic range in our township and a lot more diversity than we had," Giordano said.
Giordano has sat on the board for 16 years but its incredibly frustrating to spend so much time "cutting corners, robbing Peter to pay Paul," he said.
"Harrisburg is just not doing what they need to do to support public education," Giordano said.
Talk inevitably turned to charter schools when an audience member asked why parents choose charters. In Pennsylvania, charter schools are funded by taxpayer dollars but independently operated.
School districts must pay charter tuition for every student that opts to leave the district. The state cut its charter school reimbursement for districts in recent years.
In Allentown, the majority of students attending charters are at the secondary level, Mayo said. He thinks the appeal is the intimacy of smaller class sizes, exclusivity and the perception that some public schools aren't safe.
Bethlehem has the opposite problem with the majority of charter students leaving elementary schools and returning for high school, Roy said. He thinks families are attracted back by the extensive high school curriculum and activities.
"Ninety-two percent are choosing to be with us," Roy said.
Every family has a different reason, whether it be uniforms, programs, transportation, longer school day or perceptions about their neighborhood school, he said. It does bother Roy that many of his neighbors will be sending their kids to charter schools next year, while his daughter will be attending Lincoln Elementary School.
"Why are the taxpayers paying more to send the kids of these well-off families to a charter school? That makes no sense," Roy said. "Meanwhile we are cutting programs for kids that need them most."
In Salisbury, Giordano said it kills him that so many Allentown students are attending the Arts Academy Charter School. Giordano does not believe in publicly funded charters.
"Every kid in the Allentown School District has had art once every two weeks and phys ed once every week, but they can have art half a day every day?" Giordano said. "Why is that good ... for society?"
Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@express-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo. Find Bethlehem news on Facebook.