PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOLS Measure proposes stopgap funding

A representative for the governor called the plan unconstitutional.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- State funding would flow to Pennsylvania's 501 school districts even if lawmakers do not pass a budget on time under a measure the House of Representatives passed 138-56 Wednesday.
The proposal now goes to the Senate for consideration, but Gov. Ed Rendell promised to veto the bill if it reaches his desk because he thinks it is unconstitutional.
The measure calls for the creation of an emergency fund in the state treasury that would provide districts the same amount of money they received in the previous fiscal year if a state budget is not passed by Aug. 15. The fund would use money from the state's general fund that has not been earmarked for any other specific purpose.
Previous delay
A budget impasse that held up more than $4 billion in school subsidies for nearly the first half of the current fiscal year forced some districts to borrow money, tap cash reserves and put off paying bills to stay open. The state's payments resumed after Rendell signed legislation completing the budget in December.
Republican Rep. David Hickernell of Lancaster County, who originally introduced the bill last fall as a means of forcing Rendell to release the money, said it would prevent a similar scenario in the future.
"We would have a mechanism in place to temporarily get dollars out to schools based on the prior year's funding formula ... so that we would never hold our schools, and most importantly our students, hostage again," Hickernell said.
Rendell said during the budget stalemate he would veto any education bill that did not contain spending for new programs, and no stopgap proposal made it through both houses. Rendell's spokeswoman, Kate Philips, predicted Hickernell's bill would be overturned by the courts because the state constitution does not authorize lawmakers to make spending decisions outside the normal budget process.
"You can't spend an appropriation without a passed budget," she said.
Democrats outlined the administration's opposition during debate on the bill. Rep. P. Michael Sturla, D-Lancaster, suggested the Legislature could establish a permanent, ongoing education fund through a constitutional amendment.
"I understand the concern that we didn't fund the schools for 5 1/2 months, but if in fact this provision were put into law, we still would not have funded education at a level that we were supposed to. We would have just shirked our responsibility to do the things we needed to do with the budget," Sturla said.
Hickernell said it was "ironic" that opposition was being raised on constitutional grounds because the General Assembly is constitutionally obligated to support a "thorough and efficient" education system.
"We clearly shirked our constitutional duty during the 5 1/2 months that we did not provide funding for public education," he said.