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Corbett's vision for Pa. schools
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| Parent(s) |
Candidate
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Mar 29, 2011 01:35am |
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[Current]
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| Category | News |
| Author | Dan Hardy |
| Media | Newspaper - Philadelphia Inquirer |
| News Date | Sunday, March 27, 2011 07:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "When it comes to changing public education in Pennsylvania, Gov. Corbett's proposed billion-dollar funding cut to school districts this year could be just the beginning.
The governor also is pushing a legislative agenda that could significantly affect the way children are taught, the teachers who instruct them, and how schools craft their budgets.
One proposal that many suburban school boards fear and many taxpayers relish calls for voter approval of proposed district budgets when tax increases exceed inflation. If this were in effect now, more than 80 percent of the districts in Philadelphia's suburbs probably would have to vote.
Other Corbett initiatives would:
Give school boards, for the first time, a free hand to lay off teachers to cut costs, with the decider in the furloughs being classroom performance, not seniority.
Create vouchers providing state funding so low-income children in struggling schools could transfer to private ones. The role of charter schools would also be expanded.
Corbett also is calling for a school employee wage freeze, teacher merit pay, and a new tenure system.
These come as the governor, facing a $4 billion-plus spending gap, seeks accord by July 1 on a new state budget. Corbett said he wanted to cut the state's main subsidy to school districts by more than 10 percent. Gov. Ed Rendell increased the grants every year he was in office.
The Corbett vision for change "takes your breath away in its scope," said Chris Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College who analyzes Pennsylvania politics. "This is one of the most crucial moments in educational policy that Pennsylvania has had in quite some time."
Republicans now control both legislative chambers and the governorship, Borick said, and after the eight-year Rendell administration, "there is a lot of pent-up desire for significant education changes. . . . There is absolutely a feeling in Republican circles that they have a chance to do some thi |
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