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| PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 1679 | PRINTER'S NO. 1773 |
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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| SENATE RESOLUTION |
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| INTRODUCED BY PICCOLA, DINNIMAN, BROWNE, M. WHITE, TOMLINSON, FOLMER, ARGALL, WARD, ERICKSON, PILEGGI, GORDNER, BOSCOLA, STACK, WAUGH, RAFFERTY, EARLL, D. WHITE, ORIE AND SCARNATI, FEBRUARY 8, 2010 |
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| SENATOR PICCOLA, EDUCATION, AS AMENDED, MARCH 16, 2010 |
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| A RESOLUTION |
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1 | Directing the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a |
2 | study of efficiency in public school funding and directing |
3 | the State Board of Education to provide documents and |
4 | assistance to the Joint State Government Commission in its |
5 | conduct of this study. |
6 | WHEREAS, The General Assembly authorized a Statewide costing- |
7 | out study for public education funding under Act 114 of 2006; |
8 | and |
9 | WHEREAS, The State Board of Education was delegated the |
10 | authority to hire a consultant to perform this study; and |
11 | WHEREAS, The State Board of Education contracted with |
12 | Augenblick, Palaich and Associates (APA) of Denver, Colorado, to |
13 | conduct the study; and |
14 | WHEREAS, This study's legislative intent was to examine |
15 | issues of adequacy and equity in public school funding and to |
16 | determine the basic cost per pupil to provide an education that |
17 | will permit a student to meet the Commonwealth's academic |
18 | standards and assessments; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, Act 114 specifically requires the study to examine |
2 | "exemplary school districts that are high-performing and low- |
3 | spending school districts," but Act 114 does not explicitly |
4 | mandate other methodologies to be applied in the study; and |
5 | WHEREAS, The study conducted by APA subsequently used three |
6 | methodologies: a "Successful Schools" approach that was |
7 | consistent with the explicit requirements of Act 114, but also |
8 | two additional methodologies referred to as "Professional |
9 | Judgment" panels and "Evidence-Based" research that were not |
10 | required under law; and |
11 | WHEREAS, The final report issued to the Commonwealth by APA |
12 | used a combination of all three of these methodologies to |
13 | recommend specific dollar amounts for the basic cost per pupil, |
14 | plus additional weights and other modifications that increase |
15 | the basic cost per pupil; and |
16 | WHEREAS, The final report does not provide any indication as |
17 | to how the three methodologies were combined or compared against |
18 | one another, nor does it provide any other information detailing |
19 | how the specific recommended numbers in its findings were |
20 | actually calculated in the study; and |
21 | WHEREAS, Both the State Board of Education and APA testified |
22 | to the Education Committee of the Senate on December 8, 2009, |
23 | that the specific methodology applied to derive the final |
24 | funding recommendation cannot be disclosed to the General |
25 | Assembly because APA believes it is proprietary information; and |
26 | WHEREAS, The results of this study call for an additional |
27 | target of $4.61 billion annually of taxpayer funds for public |
28 | school funding, or a 26.8% increase, but APA testified that it |
29 | cannot provide the quantitative numbers used to justify this |
30 | target; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, The "Successful Schools" approach used by APA in the |
2 | study was the only methodology that was explicitly authorized in |
3 | Act 114 because it focused on high-performing and low-spending |
4 | school districts; and |
5 | WHEREAS, The Commonwealth should focus its attention toward |
6 | the most efficient use of the dollars already available for |
7 | public schools; and |
8 | WHEREAS, The Commonwealth should build upon the work already |
9 | conducted in the original costing-out study by examining the |
10 | schools identified in the report under the "Successful Schools" |
11 | methodology to learn their best practices and other factors that |
12 | have resulted in their identification as a high-performing, low- |
13 | spending school district; therefore be it |
14 | RESOLVED, That the Senate direct the Joint State Government |
15 | Commission to conduct a study of the 82 school districts found |
16 | to be successful schools in the APA costing-out study and to |
17 | issue a report to the chairman of the Education Committee of the |
18 | Senate of their best practices and other factors that are |
19 | believed to help contribute to this recognized efficiency and |
20 | success; and be it further |
21 | RESOLVED, That the Senate direct the State Board of Education |
22 | to cooperate fully with the Joint State Government Commission in |
23 | providing documentation from the original costing-out study and |
24 | other assistance as the Joint State Government Commission |
25 | requests; and be it further |
26 | RESOLVED, That the report from the Joint State Government |
27 | Commission be submitted to the chairman Senate and to the | <-- |
28 | chairman and minority chairman of the Education Committee of the |
29 | Senate no later than November 1, 2010; and be it further |
30 | RESOLVED, That the final report serve as the basis for future |
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1 | deliberations by the Senate on the Commonwealth's basic |
2 | education funding levels and components. |
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