Ultimately, these increases were enabled by failing to fully fund pensions for public school teachers. But like family budgets, the bill is now coming due like at Central Dauphin School District where officials announced the cut of more than 70 teaching jobs and a tax increase of more than three percent just to make ends meet.

But they are not alone as total taxpayer contributions for school and state worker pensions will increase from $1.7 billion in 2011-12 to more than $6.1 billion in 2016-17—a 257 percent increase. Next school year, the average homeowner will pay an additional $370 just for increases in required pension contributions.

Unfortunately, those with perpetual palms up are repeating the popular narrative that simply blames state lawmakers. This old yarn ignores how the Pennsylvania State Education Association was complicit in the crisis. The PSEA lobbied not only for increases in pension benefits, but also for the 2003 and 2010 legislation to delay pension payments.

Finally, many discussions on education spending ignore the most exciting part of the story: the great success of school choice. School choice programs such as charter schools, cyber charter schools and scholarships offered through business tax credits give Pennsylvania’s children quality education with fewer tax dollars. Schools of choice—private, charter, and home school—save taxpayers $4.3 billion annually.

For the rest of the article, go to LTE: Education Spending … the Rest of the Story

Salisbury Township School District is considering starting its own online school in an effort to win back students who left to attend cyber charter schools and to offer more courses to students who attend its brick-and-mortar schools.

The online school, tentatively called VAST, or Virtual Academy Salisbury Township, would be operated in conjunction with the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit’s proposed Virtual Learning Program, which hopes to enlist other member school districts.

For the rest of the article, go to Salisbury Considers Creating Cyber School

Pennsylvania boasts a robust charter school system that includes cyber charter schools; the Education Improvement Tax Credit, or EITC, which provides an average scholarship of $1,000 to low-income families who want their children to attend private schools; and rules that allow parents to teach their students at home.

The key is to improve education options, said Ken Kilpatrick, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, which represents charter schools in the state.

“It’s families making a choice about what school will give my child the best educational future,” Kilpatrick said. “Competition is forcing districts to think about how they can improve.”

For the rest of the article, go to Educational choice in Pa. expands, but vouchers remain out of reach

The Centennial School District spends about a half million dollars each year to send local youth to cyber charter schools, according to the state, and the district could save a significant portion of that by having its own online program.

That was the message Monday night from the the director of Bridges Virtual Education Services, who made a presentation to the school board’s education committee.

“There are over a dozen cyber schools in the commonwealth today, and more and more students … across the United States are selecting online learning. … There is a growing trend across the United States,” said Chris Harrington, the former director of technology and head of cyber education for Quakertown schools.

For the rest of the article, go to Centennial Committee Hears Advantages of Online Courses