Holding All Schools Hostage

Fell Charter Elementary School near Scranton will stop paying teachers next month and the school is considering a four-day week thanks to the state budget stalemate.

Fell's announcement is just the latest reminder of Governor Wolf's strategy to leverage schools for tax hikes. First the governor withheld EITC and OSTC scholarship funds, which allow thousands of Pennsylvania kids to escape failing schools—even though these scholarships are part of the tax code which is still in effect.

Next, a handful of district schools stopped sending tuition payments to charter schools, which serve more than 100,000 kids in Pennsylvania. When the state began to pay charters by redirecting gaming revenue, districts vehmently protested, leading the Treasury to stop payments at the request of Senate Democrats.

It's not just students at charter schools that are pawns in Gov. Wolf's political game. District schools desperate for funding were told they could not seek loans from the state Treasury. This is in spite of the comparisons they made to a loan floated to House Democrats from the Treasury.

In short, all types of schools and students across the commonwealth are held hostage.

Yesterday, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced at least 27 school districts and two intermediate units are now borrowing money to stay open. That puts total borrowing at $431 million, plus an estimated $14 million in interest costs. DePasquale expects the number of borrowing districts to jump to 54 by Thanksgiving

Hours later, the state Senate tried once again to provide relief to schools by attempting a veto override of a stop-gap budget that would release four months of funding to schools and social service agencies. The move fell short by 3 votes.

As rumors of a new deal circulate one thing should be clear: No one wins by holding schools hostage for historic tax increases.