Markell does the election two-step, funds education in proposed budget

If I still had respect for the Gov (respect is easily lost and much harder to earn) I'd see his proposed education funding as a sign of improved economy and perhaps a sign that he got the message - you can't balance the state's budget on the backs of children.  But, I know better now... And I'll call it what it is (My comments are in red.):

From the News Journal, http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012201270339

DOVER -- Delaware public schools were spared from a steep drop in funding next year in Gov. Jack Markell's proposed 2013 fiscal year budget. Classic Election Year Move to earn support of parents and educators.

Markell proposed $27.4 million in new spending for school operations to make up for the loss of one-time federal stimulus money Congress appropriated to stave off teacher layoffs during the recession. Back it up here! First Markell moved education funds  -eliminating line items like the one that paid reading specialists - into the general fund to support other state expenditures.  Then he backfilled with the federal stimulus monies all the while warning that the funding cliff was coming - coming mind you b/c he was moving edu-funds into general funds and eliminating needed programs...

"The bottom line is, putting in the $27.4 million will absolutely help us with staffing and personnel, which prior to today we were very concerned about," said Delmar Superintendent David Ring, who heads the state's Chief School Officers Association. "It would vary district to district, but we absolutely would have had major layoffs."  In Christina, RIFs have somewhat been mitigated by a year or two due to our tax payers who valued public education and passed an operating referendum two years back.  While you can't just move state and federal funds from one bucket to another, the district is better able to re-appropriate local funds to offset some of the damage inflicted by our Gov.'s past budgets.  It's not ideal or even close, but it helped to stabilize the district at a time when the Gov. was disenfranchising education voters. Absolutely, there are districts that would have been crippled if this funding was not made available now.  And I'll take it, knowing that the Gov. is already planning to hack away at education funds the second he's re-elected. 

The $3.54 billion total budget -- which includes $960.7 million for school district operations -- also appropriates $8.7 million to hire 111 new teachers across the state to account for projected growth in enrollment next school year.  This is a classic move for a politician up for re-election.  Spending money on more teachers is designed to engage union support.  If more teachers are hired, it safe to assume many of them will become a part of the unions that protect their rights resulting in more union dues and probably an endorsement from one of the most powerful unions in the state.  I live unions, but I fear that the Gov's move to buy their support will do just that.  I wonder how quickly our union leadership will forget about DPASS-II Component V and how our teachers evaluation will be tied to a test that measures student achievement and not a teachers proficiency? Will they forget that they have been demonized by the likes of the Gov's Buddy Skip Schoenals and the rest of the business roundtable? 

Markell's proposal also includes $8.8 million to pay contractual step increases for employees in K-12 schools and Delaware Technical Community College. Really? Is this noteworthy?  The key word here is "contractual."  These employees have a contract that ensure they get their step increases.  As the Gov. is not seeking across the board pay cuts as he has done in the past, this is non-news.  It was safe to assume that their wages would be paid as contractually obligated!  I hate feel good lines that are tossed into stories for the sole point of feeling good.  This is not an accomplishment.  This is business as usual.

In response to a study showing 1,000 paraprofessionals are underpaid in Delaware, he proposed giving each classroom aide a $750 raise, adding another $750,000 line-item to the budget.  Okay, the Gov. and I can agree on this one:  a number of education employees including paras are paid at below or just above poverty levels. This is income long deserved.  Sadly, it doesn't touch nearly enough employees and it's not enough, but it's a start.  Maybe the state-induced paycuts (and I predict our Gov will go there if he wins another term) won't hurt these employees quite so much...

Ring said the governor's education funding plan was the best news the state's school districts could have expected. Districts were worried about the loss of $27.4 million in federal stimulus funding, he said. 

Delaware schools received that money in 2011, but were urged by the Markell administration not to spend it until the current fiscal year, which bought the state another year to find the funds.  The A-HA Moment!  So those of us who have the spiteful job of approving education budgets knew this funding existed.  It was approved more than a year ago by the federal government and sent to states to distribute to districts.  In Delaware, the funding was held at the state level with the strong admonition that districts should not try to draw down these funds.  They are one-time funds meant to preserve education jobs.  Most, if not all, districts have not drawn on these funds, waiting until Markell's funding cliff materializes.  This is not special funding that our Gov. has secured for Delawareans.  It was already in the pipeline and many of us have spent the last year praying that the state would not find a way to raid this funding, too. 

"I pushed that problem off for a year and now we have to address it," said Ann Visalli, director of the Office of Management and Budget. Of course it must be addressed.  The funding sunsets - don't spend it and you have to give it back. 

The president of the state teachers union gave the Democratic governor's education budget good marks.  Please, Frederika, don't drink the kool-aid as some who have come before you have (and trust me, I hear from reliable sources, some are regretting it!)  Remember, Jack's buddy, calling you and your kin out as factory floor workers who are holding the ed-system hostage!  That's their true colors shining through!

"It's both financial and emotional support for the folks making it happen in our schools," said Frederika Jenner, president of the Delaware State Education Association.

Jenner said she was particularly pleased with the governor's $3.5 million appropriation for early childhood programs, which will add to $22 million the administration gave to those programs last year.  I wonder how much of the original $22 million came from funds previously dedicated to transportation?  Those funds were hijacked last year by the Gov.  Yes, I agree that we need to invest in early childhood, but programs like Baby Race to the Top are just misguided efforts. 

"I believe that many of our issues that we see in elementary, middle school and high school maybe started before the child entered our school system," Jenner said.  Frederika is a smart woman, she knows that longitudinal data absolutely supports this fact.  Children who do not participate in effective early education such as preschool start kindergarten and first grade with a gap.  I've heard from countless principals who saw this when our district moved from 1/2 day to full-day kindergarten.  Children who were 1/2 day K-students were often behind their full-day K counterparts in first grade.  

Heartbreaking:  The fact the internationally educators in the early childhood field have been fighting for funding for decades.  Though it's a start, Delaware's already late in the game to tackle the education of our youngest as an intervention to proficiency gaps.