Schools and money
Regarding the Nov. 21 Forum piece "Start Cutting Here, Gov. Corbett": Thomas Hylton rightly takes aim at the Pennsylvania Department of Education's PlanCon process. In addition to potentially over-building the commonwealth with overdone facilities, the department's management of the program deserves a failing grade when putting into practice regulations designed to protect residents and taxpayers.
Looking at our experience in Mt. Lebanon, regulations require the Department of Education to consider the "annual cost of amortization" of a project when evaluating a community's local effort and affordability. For no good reason, the state education department used an annual amortization cost of zero in its PlanCon review of our $100 million-plus high school renovation.
Presumably because the department did it and approved it, school superintendent Timothy Steinhauer and our school board majority took no issue with the analysis, despite indications that the proper application of the regulations could call into question the community's ability to pay for the high school, let alone other cost increases to come.
We are very much in need of Gov.-elect Tom Corbett's refined moral compass, all across Pennsylvania.
BILL MATTHEWS
Mt. Lebanon
Mt. Lebanon
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10339/1108105-110.stm#ixzz17FyzqXfs
1 comment:
An excellent example by Bill Matthews !
This occured in the PlanCon Form D submission by the District. Form D is supposedly all about determining an accurate, calculated determination of the amount of state reimbursement a project qualifies for....Lebo considers state reimbursement to be *free* money in lieu of admitting that it is also our tax $ paid to Harrisburg rather than Lebo directly.
The mid-2010 Form D submission by Lebo was on forms that were published in 2007 that expired in September 2009. As such, the data requirements indicated were for specific time periods that did not match or represent the HS project at all ! To their credit, the District questioned the Harrisburg PlanCon bureaucrats about this fact, and were rebuffed...fill out the forms with the specific data requirements indicated and Harrisburg will make the update adjustments. This is absolutely true and was revealed in a recorded SB meeting. Harrisburg would not take the time or make the effort to amend or update their own forms.
It should then come as no surprise that the PlanCon bureaucrats did *adjust* the numbers, used the zero amortization that Bill Matthews revealed, among a number of other things, and came up with a $900,000 + increase in state reimbursement from an earlier calculation !
No wonder the SB majority and Dr. Steinhauer made no further challenge to the process. After all, state reimbursement is *free* money don't you know.
Oh, by the way, the Harrisburg PlanCon numbers jockey's also determined that the allowable project costs before a referendum or repeat Act 34 hearing would be required were also increased. Imagine that !
Bill Lewis
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