August 18th, 2009

Rendell is now telling lawmakers that he wants another budget on his desk, and soon.

Reports Brad Bumsted of the Tribune-Review:

     “Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday chastised lawmakers for not putting enough effort into resolving the state budget crisis, but he did not say he would call leaders together to negotiate.

      “No more vacations. No more hiatus. No more going to the shore,” Rendell said at a news conference he called to address the financial plight of early education and child care programs.

…

     Asked whether he would call leaders into meetings to negotiate a full spending agreement, Rendell said: “After I took the (personal income tax) increase off the table, the ball was in their court.”"

Apparently, he wants the Treehouse Club to have another meeting to get the ball rolling.

So what’s going on in the real world?

Public education-wise, they are not yet panicking, but plan to at the end of the month.

Reports the Tribune-Review:

About 40 percent of school districts will be forced to weather the state budget impasse without help from their surplus money, according to an agency representing school financial officers.

“Because of the economy, districts who didn’t want to use that money last year had to in order to balance their budgets,” said Jay Himes, director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. “Crisis hasn’t set in yet. The real panic mode will be at the end of this month.”

By law, school districts can keep surpluses, known as fund balances, that amount to no more than 13 percent of their total budgets, Himes said.

…

Districts missed a July payment from the state totaling $416 million. If the budget impasse continues, schools will head into the academic year without an additional $876 million, expected to be distributed Aug. 27, said Michael Race, spokesman for the Department of Education.

On average, school districts are subsidized 35 percent by state money, said Robert Strauss, professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

Most districts with reserve funds wouldn’t feel the effect of not having a state budget until December, said David Davare, director of research for the state School Boards Association.

“Some may be able to go a little bit further than that,” said Davare. “But we’re starting to see smaller, poorer districts struggling.”

Another real world story comes from Karen Heller of the Philadelphia Inquirer, whose column today attempts to “put a face and a name” to the Pennsylvania Budget Impasse of 2009. 

She tells the story of Denae Craig, a single mom who worked as a nursing aide (earning $9.82 an hour), who is trying to enroll in school to become a registered nurse.

Writes Heller:

Through PathWays PA, one of many social-service agencies dependent on state funding, she attended a free English and math prep class for the test. She wants to enroll in another course to improve her chances and wages.

But there are no free prep classes. There’s no money. There hasn’t been any money for months, due to the stagnant budget process, which, for agencies like PathWays, has become a crisis.

“We’ve drained our cash reserves, drew down our line of credit, and paid for essentials on the group’s credit cards,” says president Carol Goertzel.

An agency assisting 6,000 women and children annually with an assortment of services in Delaware County and Philadelphia, PathWays is owed $1.5 million, 15 percent of its operating budget, most of which flows from Harrisburg.

In the last six budget battles – not one passed on time – agencies like PathWays planned for an impasse, a difficult July. Now, they’re running dry well into August, with no end in sight.

“Those people should help people who want to do something with their lives,” Craig says. “This is so backwards. If I was on public assistance, I would be getting checks.”

Craig nets $648 every two weeks. She represents the one in five Delaware County residents who don’t meet economic self-sufficiency standards. She wants to. She’s motivated.

“Our goal is to move these women to a state of self-sufficiency, so the next generation isn’t dependent on the government,” Goertzel says, a goal embraced by both parties.

It’s preventive social services, aid now to avoid dependency later.

..

Last year, PathWays offered free health-care classes to 550 residents. There are no classes scheduled for fall, and there won’t be until there’s funding, yet 147 names are on the current waiting list.

The irony is that there are jobs in health care. PathWays doesn’t have the funds to help these women help others.

[Read the rest at the Inquirer.]

Oh, and Rendell has lost 40 pounds this summer.