Senators target school mandates - Lancasteronline 03/22/2011

Senators target school mandates
Republican lawmakers say they want to help cash-strapped districts cut expenses
 Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era

Updated Mar 22, 2011 23:28
By BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer



All public school teachers must get 10 paid sick days per year and be eligible for paid sabbatical leaves after 10 years of service, according to the Pennsylvania Public School Code.

The code, which has been in effect since 1949, also requires that school districts provide transportation for school-age residents who attend private schools — even if those schools are in other states bordering Pennsylvania.

Those are two examples of the unfunded mandates forced upon public schools that state lawmakers want to eliminate to help cash-strapped school districts cut expenses.

At a news conference Tuesday at the Capitol, state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola unveiled a series of bills designed to eliminate these and other mandates. Included in the package are four bills sponsored by state Sen. Mike Brubaker of Warwick Township and one each sponsored by Sen. Lloyd Smucker of West Lampeter and Sen. Mike Folmer of Lebanon, who represents a portion of Lancaster County.

All are Republicans.

"This package makes it possible for school districts to continue to provide a quality education without raising local property taxes," said Piccola, the Republican chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

Local school officials were skeptical of that claim but generally praised the proposals as a step in the right direction.

"It looks to me like the legislators have heard the districts' pleas for flexibility, given the challenging economic times we're facing," said Amy Slamp, superintendent of Elizabethtown Area School District.

Slamp said she needs to study the legislation in more detail to determine how much money her district could save from the changes.

Piccola's office was unable to provide a projected statewide savings from the proposed legislation, which is designed to help offset a nearly $1 billion reduction in state education funding in Gov. Tom Corbett's 2011-12 budget.

During Tuesday's press conference, state Sen. Andy Dinniman, Democratic chairman of the Education Committee, said the legislation would "hopefully save 1 percent to 2 percent of these cuts."

The bill with the biggest potential for savings, local school officials said, would allow districts to furlough teachers for economic reasons.

Introduced last month by Folmer, Senate Bill 612 would amend the School Code, which allows teacher furloughs only in response to enrollment declines, program reductions and school consolidations.

S.B. 612 also would remove a provision in the code that teachers who were hired last be laid off first, enabling districts to implement layoffs based on teacher effectiveness.

State Rep. Scott Boyd of West Lampeter has introduced similar legislation in the House

Folmer's bill and S.B. 870, which would repeal mandated teacher sick days and sabbaticals, have the most potential for savings, said Bob Frick, superintendent of Lampeter-Strasburg School District.

"The rest of them, in my opinion, would be window dressing," he said of the other bills.

L-S pays $1,000 in substitute teacher costs to cover each teacher who uses all 10 of his or her sick days a year, Frick said. Teachers also can save up and "cash in" their unused days.

But for any savings to materialize, he said, the teachers' contract would have to be amended because those provisions are included in that agreement.

Brubaker is sponsoring a bill that would suspend for two years a state requirement that teachers receive continuing education, usually at the expense of the school district where they work.

Like the furlough bill, however, most tuition reimbursements are guaranteed in teacher contracts, and those pacts would have to be renegotiated before school districts could realize savings.

Brubaker also is sponsoring the following legislation:

• S.B. 296 — Raises from $5,000 to $25,000 the threshold on expenditures for which districts must seek competitive bids.

• S.B. 873 — Streamlines the PlanCon process the state uses to review school construction projects eligible for state reimbursements.

• S.B. 872 — Reduces restrictions on the dual-enrollment program that allows high school students to enroll in college-credit classes.

Corbett has eliminated dual-enrollment funding for next year. The changes would take effect if funding is restored.

Smucker's bill would repeal a section of the School Code mandating that annual increases in basic education subsidies be used only for new and expanded programs, not existing expenditures.

Other mandate-relief legislation would:

• Suspend the required filing of "nonessential" reports to the state Department of Education during years in which state education funding declines.

• Allow districts to hire school-certified nurses instead of registered nurses.

• Allow districts to post public notices on the Internet instead of paying for newspaper advertisements.

• Ease restrictions on the hiring of superintendents. Districts could hire candidates with graduate degrees in business or finance who are not certificated.

• Other mandate-relief legislation in the pipeline would eliminate prevailing wage requirements on school construction projects and increase the number of hours part-time employees must work to join the state pension system.

The Senate Education Committee also plans to introduce legislation designed to give residents more control over property taxes.

Senate Bill 357 would require a two-thirds majority vote by school boards to increase property taxes.

Brubaker plans to introduce a bill to eliminate Act 1 exceptions for costs beyond a school district's control, such as pension payments and special-education expenditures.

The legislation would force districts to seek voter approval for any property tax increase above their state-mandated base Act 1 index.

bwallace@lnpnews.com
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