Ronald Tomalis, Acting Secretary of the Department of Education, told the Senate Appropriations Committee this morning, success in educating students is not just about the money, noting the quality of teachers, class size and other factors that do not necessarily cost any more money are many times more important.
Tomalis said if you take a close look at when academic achievement improvement has occurred over the last 8 to 10 years, it often occurred before significant increases in funding happened.
Tomalis said education is one of the few programs where many measure success by the inputs-- money-- rather than the outputs-- test results and graduation rates. He noted state funding has more than doubled over the last 10 years while student enrollment has dropped by 50,000 students increasing per pupil costs.
Tomalis said almost all of the cost drivers are the result of school district decisions, noting that over $1.1 billion has gone into just raises over the last few years not to improving programs. That was why Gov. Corbett called for a one-year freeze on school employee raises that will save an estimated $400 million.
Here are some of the issues talked about during the hearing:
Positions On Bills: Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-Chester), Minority Chair of the Senate Education Committee, started out by expressing frustration over working with the Corbett Administration on bills moving through the Senate on school vouchers and other issues saying the Department of Education has not take a position on many of these initiatives. Tomalis said they would be working with the Senate and House as the bills move through the legislative process.
Budget Cuts Destroying Education?: In response to a question from Sen. Dinniman about criticism from some groups saying the budget cuts will destroy education, Tomalis said he has heard the same criticism over the last 25 years whether the state was adding or taking funding away from education programs. Tomalis said the reality is there is a huge budget hole and one-time use of federal stimulus dollars was the cause of the "cuts."
Tomalis said almost all of the cost drivers are the result of school district decisions, noting that over $1.1 billion has gone into just raises over the last few years not to improving programs. That was why Gov. Corbett called for a one-year freeze on school employee raises that will save an estimated $400 million. In response to a question from Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne), Tomalis continued to explain you cannot drive education success through dollars. It is the quality of the teacher that drives education achievement regardless of dollars and other variables like class size.
Tomalis said the state has gone from spending a total of $13 billion to $26 billion over the last 10 years on K-12 education and if you would have asked educators 10 years ago if they would have been satisfied with doubling funding above inflation, they would have been satisfied.
Unfortunately, Tomalis said, education is the one program where you measure success by the inputs-- money-- rather than the outputs-- test results and graduation rates.
Tomalis said if you take a close look at when academic achievement has occurred over the last 8 to 10 years, it often occurred before significant increases in funding happened.
He also noted the number students enrolled in K-12 was dropped by 50,000 and the number of teachers has increased.
In response to questions about cuts in Philadelphia School District spending by Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia), Minority Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Tomalis said over the last 10 years spending in Philadelphia schools has gone from $1.6 billion to $3.1 billion and enrollment in the system has dropped.
Trickle Down Tax Increases: Sen. Jim Ferlo (D-Allegheny) was critical of the Administration over the budget cuts because he said they will cause dramatic increases in local property taxes which violates Gov. Corbett's pledge to not raise taxes. Tomalis disagreed. Tomalis said the first option should not be to raise taxes.
In response to a question from Sen. Mike Brubaker (R-Lancaster), Tomalis said his agency would welcome changes to Act 1 to limit the Department of Education's ability to issue exemptions from the cap on taxation in school districts.
Higher Education: In response to a question from Sen. John Rafferty (R-Montgomery) on whether there is room for discussing mitigating the cuts on higher education and other education line items, Tomalis said this is just the beginning of the discussion over these issues.
Tomalis said the Administration was very concerned the institutions would turn to tuition increases to make up for the cuts and he was very glad to hear they were doing all they can to reduce the impact on student tuition.
Sen. Jake Corman (R-Centre), Majority Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, suggested it may be worth looking at state-related universities individually, like Lincoln University that are more dependent on state funding, rather than treating them all the same. Tomalis said it would be worth looking at.
In response to a question from Sen. Lloyd Smucker (R-Lancaster), Tomalis said there is a different relationship with the State System of Higher Education because they are state institutions and he looks forward to discussing funding for the System in the future.
Community Colleges: Sen. Wayne Fontana (D-Allegheny) raised the issue of problems with local funding of community colleges, and Tomalis said some school districts and counties are reconsidering local funding levels in light of their own budget issues.
Tomalis said community colleges are one of the fastest growing segment of higher education noting initiatives like portability of their credits to other schools provided additional flexibility to students.
Sen. Bob Mensch (R-Lehigh) urged the Administration to reconsider cuts to community colleges saying even though it was just a 10 percent cut, they have been losing money over the last few years because of increased enrollment.
Statewide Health Contract: In response to a question from Sen. David Argall (R-Schuylkill), Tomalis said he would explore why there has not been more serious discussion of joint school district purchasing of health care insurance/services or even a statewide program.
School Vouchers: Tomalis said he believes in the end a good school voucher program will save taxpayers money in response to a question from Sen. Wayne Fontana (D-Allegheny).
Merger Incentives: Tomalis said there should be incentives for school district mergers in response to a question from Sen. Pat Vance (R-Cumberland) about whether the state should re-look at the hold-harmless provisions in the basic funding formula. He noted the state has gone from 501 to 500 districts; "we're making progress."
Mandate Relief: Tomalis said changing whatever mandates or requirements included in teacher contracts will have to wait until those local contracts expire, in response to a question of Sen. Mary Jo White (R-Venango). He said the Corbett Administration has proposed inviting school districts to come to the Department of Education to grant waivers from state mandates.
Charter Schools: Sen. Dinniman said he has introduced legislation-- Senate Bill 904-- giving school districts the same mandates as charter schools since districts always say charter schools have fewer mandates. Tomalis said he supported that initiative, noting if you put all the students in charter schools in one district it would be the second largest school district in the Commonwealth. High School Drop Out Rate: Sen. Dinniman expressed concern about the state's 20 to 33 percent high school drop out rate even though we are spending $26 billion on K-12 education.
Tomalis pointed to the audit of the Philadelphia School District by Auditor General Wagner saying the second finding of that audit showing the district could not document reliably how many students they had enrolled in the district and as a result he could not determine if they are getting the correct state subsidies was telling. Penn State Cooperative Extension Service: In response to a question from Sen. Corman on moving the budget for the Penn State Cooperative Extension Service to the Department of Agriculture, Tomalis said he would take a look at that issue.
Tomalis appears before the House Appropriations Committee at 1:00 today. Watch it online at www.PCNtv.com
