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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 AND EARLL, FEBRUARY 8, 2010 |
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| REFERRED TO EDUCATION, FEBRUARY 8, 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 |
19 | WHEREAS, Act 114 specifically requires the study to examine |
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1 | "exemplary school districts that are high-performing and low- |
2 | spending school districts," but Act 114 does not explicitly |
3 | mandate other methodologies to be applied in the study; and |
4 | WHEREAS, The study conducted by APA subsequently used three |
5 | methodologies: a "Successful Schools" approach that was |
6 | consistent with the explicit requirements of Act 114, but also |
7 | two additional methodologies referred to as "Professional |
8 | Judgment" panels and "Evidence-Based" research that were not |
9 | required under law; and |
10 | WHEREAS, The final report issued to the Commonwealth by APA |
11 | used a combination of all three of these methodologies to |
12 | recommend specific dollar amounts for the basic cost per pupil, |
13 | plus additional weights and other modifications that increase |
14 | the basic cost per pupil; and |
15 | WHEREAS, The final report does not provide any indication as |
16 | to how the three methodologies were combined or compared against |
17 | one another, nor does it provide any other information detailing |
18 | how the specific recommended numbers in its findings were |
19 | actually calculated in the study; and |
20 | WHEREAS, Both the State Board of Education and APA testified |
21 | to the Education Committee of the Senate on December 8, 2009, |
22 | that the specific methodology applied to derive the final |
23 | funding recommendation cannot be disclosed to the General |
24 | Assembly because APA believes it is proprietary information; and |
25 | WHEREAS, The results of this study call for an additional |
26 | target of $4.61 billion annually of taxpayer funds for public |
27 | school funding, or a 26.8% increase, but APA testified that it |
28 | cannot provide the quantitative numbers used to justify this |
29 | target; and |
30 | WHEREAS, The "Successful Schools" approach used by APA in the |
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1 | study was the only methodology that was explicitly authorized in |
2 | Act 114 because it focused on high-performing and low-spending |
3 | school districts; and |
4 | WHEREAS, The Commonwealth should focus its attention toward |
5 | the most efficient use of the dollars already available for |
6 | public schools; and |
7 | WHEREAS, The Commonwealth should build upon the work already |
8 | conducted in the original costing-out study by examining the |
9 | schools identified in the report under the "Successful Schools" |
10 | methodology to learn their best practices and other factors that |
11 | have resulted in their identification as a high-performing, low- |
12 | spending school district; therefore be it |
13 | RESOLVED, That the Senate direct the Joint State Government |
14 | Commission to conduct a study of the 82 school districts found |
15 | to be successful schools in the APA costing-out study and to |
16 | issue a report to the chairman of the Education Committee of the |
17 | Senate of their best practices and other factors that are |
18 | believed to help contribute to this recognized efficiency and |
19 | success; and be it further |
20 | RESOLVED, That the Senate direct the State Board of Education |
21 | to cooperate fully with the Joint State Government Commission in |
22 | providing documentation from the original costing-out study and |
23 | other assistance as the Joint State Government Commission |
24 | requests; and be it further |
25 | RESOLVED, That the report from the Joint State Government |
26 | Commission be submitted to the chairman of the Education |
27 | Committee of the Senate no later than November 1, 2010; and be |
28 | it further |
29 | RESOLVED, That the final report serve as the basis for future |
30 | deliberations by the Senate on the Commonwealth's basic |
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1 | education funding levels and components. |
2 | |
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