I uploaded both meeting podcasts, but only had a chance to watch part of the discussion meeting.
No surprises. The Board is going to move forward with fundraising. Naturally, Larry is excited, but so is Mary. Surprisingly, Elaine Cappucci is skeptical, yet supportive. She has concerns with staff concentrating on fundraising instead of education. Dr. Steinhauer volunteered the services of taxpayer-funded clerical staff. Perhaps Larry will bring in adult foreign workers at minimum wage to do the actual staff and fundraising grunt work to keep the costs low.
More power to these folks. If they can raise the money, then go for it. It is unfortunate that the Board will not admit to making a mistake by proceeding with a high school renovation of such grandeur without figuring how to finance it. It was revealed last night that the State is eighteen months behind in state reimbursement for construction. Mary and Jo will blame Corbett, Bush, the Mayans, and Hurricane Katrina. No word on the MLEA grievance.
11 comments:
Totally surreal! Wonder whose relative or friend will get the job?
I'll bet donations will be for an endowment earmarked to fund all day kindergarten - anyone recall that "initiative" from JoPo some years back ? The dwarfs will all fall into line, perhaps save one.
Why does the state reimburse at all?
IF the district ends up getting any reimbursement, they should feel lucky.
@3:59 Your stupidity is showing. Google Plan Con PDE.
Here is a link to the PlanCon process, 3:59 PM.
Reimbursable Projects
Elaine
3:59 - you must be very new to both PA and Lebo if you have no clue about state reimbursement. BTW, reimbursement comes from tax $ that we pay, so it is not free money as some people, educated adults, actually believe !
Is anyone surprised? This board doesnt just happen to be incompetent. It uses incompetence as its guiding principle.
3:59,
The law has changed so that school boards that do not seek reimbursement do not have to use the PlanCon process. So, if you are happy sending 100% of your money to Harrisburg instead of just 92% then you can feel lucky to get a reimbursement at all.
Unfortunately, the majority of ML dollars sent to Harrisburg get a large haircut before any dollars are returned to us. Please do your homework before you respond.
8:15 P.M. School districts had more than $3 billion in reserve funds as of 2011, which represents a tripling in 14 years. That is, they've been able to save large portions of their allotted education funds, despite increases in spending and claims of education funding cuts.
3:59 here.
Here's the reason for the comment.
State dollar to public schools has been put under pressure.
State reimbursement to school districts for construction project would be a logical place for the governor to look at to cut or eliminate. It is not for books or education. It is reimbursement for an elective construction project.
If the budget gets tougher, you can bet that things like construction reimbursement will be on the table.
If you doubt me, please read this story from the other day:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/more-schools-seek-reimbursement-from-pa-for-construction-work-656655/
3:59
If you are curious about why we have State funding problems and charter schools are gaining popularity take a look at the AYP scores of certain city districts making AYP compared to the AYP scores of charter schools making AYP in the same county.
Philadelphia District 13% made AYP Philadelphia Charter 53% made AYP
Pittsburgh District 11% made AYP Allegheny Co. Charter 39%
Allentown District 10% made AYP Leigh Co. Charter 50%
Harrisburg District 9% made AYP Dauphin Co. Charter 50%
Erie District 5% made AYP Erie Co. Charter 20%
Scranton District 12% Lackawanna Co. Charter 100% made AYP
Mount Lebanon is suffering from the backlash of State funding shifts.
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