The Sanatoga Post

HARRISBURG PA – Area school districts – Pottsgrove, Spring-Ford, and Pottstown among them – are being forced next year to grapple with more than just deep cuts in state and federal funding. They also face fundamental changes in educational philosophy, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported Friday (April 29, 2011).

School boards understood early on that federal economic stimulus money provided during the past two years by the Obama Administration would end someday. What they may not have appreciated, The Independent reported, is the extent to which former Gov. Ed Rendell ensured extra educational money was available.

Now Rendell’s successor, newly elected Gov. Tom Corbett, is pursuing dramatic educational policy changes. His secretary of education, Ronald Tomalis, has said publicly that he does not believe more money necessarily equals better performance. And Tomalis advocates policies that allow state funding to “follow the child” rather than being tied to a specific school district.

Those shifts, according to The Independent, have left a few lawmakers scratching their heads and seeking more information.

• Read a story by reporter Darwyyn Deyo, titled “Legislators grapple with proposed education cuts, philosophy change” and published Friday by The Independent, here.
• Read a related story by reporter Brad Bumstead, titled “Pennsylvania House eyes more school choice tax credits” and published Saturday (April 30) by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper, here.

Related (to education tuition vouchers and school choice):

• Local School Boards Face Both Cuts And Policy Changes
• Local Rep. Quigley Favors Tax Credits In School Choice
• PA Senate School Choice Vote Possible Next Week
• Two Unions Break Ranks, Back State School Vouchers
• Idea: Pottsgrove Might Prosper With Own Charter School
• Choice Amendment Would Remove Vouchers’ 3rd Year
• Teacher Unions Say Budgets, Vouchers Top Their Agendas
• Poll Claims Public Opposes Tuition Vouchers
• Senate Education Chair Preps For Voucher, Choice Battle

Related (to the Pottsgrove School District 2011-2012 budget):

• Local School Boards Face Both Cuts And Policy Changes
• Pottsgrove Chinese Language Students Face Cuts Again
• Pottsgrove Task Force Didn’t Shelve Pay-To-Play Plan
• Committee: Charter School May Save Pottsgrove $70K
• Pottsgrove Paying $28K Next Year For MCIU Support
• Secretary Says Schools Must Find Funds Themselves
• College Students Protest Proposed Ed Budget Cuts
• Pay Freeze Endorsed As Pottsgrove Labor Talks Start
• Pottsgrove High Protesters Exercise Art Of Compromise
• Pottsgrove’s Landis Distributes State Fund Comparison
• Pottsgrove Budget Deficit Balloons With Gov’s Proposal
• MCIU Budgets On Pottsgrove Schools Agenda Tonight
• PA House OKs ‘Cut And Replace’ On Education Funding
• Idea: Other Local Schools Consider Extracurricular Fees
• Idea: Pottsgrove Might Prosper With Own Charter School
• Pooling Resources Could Save Pottsgrove On Special Ed
• Like Pottsgrove Task Force, Outsiders Weigh Cost Vs. Value
• Task Force Crowd Packs Into Pottsgrove For First Session
• School Budget Task Force Kicks Off Its Work Tonight
• Does Western PA School Tax Uprising Foretell Mood Here?
• Pottsgrove Schools Budget Short Another $400,000
• Pottsgrove, As Expected, Adopts Budget First Draft
• Pottsgrove Tentative Budget Adoption Expected
• Weather Postpones Pottsgrove Budget Meeting
• Still Time In Pottsgrove For Budget Volunteers To Enlist
• Challenge To Pottsgrove Budget Advisers: 10 Percent
• Best Guesses, Deficit Launch Pottsgrove Budget Season
• Senate Education Chair Preps For Voucher, Choice Battle
• School Board Questions Pottsgrove Recreation Costs
• Pension Reform Vote Could Benefit Pottsgrove, Others
• Notebook Worthy: News Reporters Made News Tuesday
• Pottsgrove Isn’t Waiting In Search For Budget Volunteers
• If You’ve Got A Budget Idea, Pottsgrove Says It’ll Listen
• Pottsgrove Seeks More Public Input On District Budget

Photo from Google Images

Money's flying in.

COLLEGEVILLE PA – Perkiomen Valley Airport (PVA), a small aircraft field at 767 Collegeville Rd., will receive $82,500 from the state to help in removing runway obstructions and improve safety there, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell announced Monday (June 1, 2009).

The money for PVA is being supplied under a grant administered by the state Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Aviation, and is being paid from taxes on jet fuel. It was one of 16 grant recipients, and the only one in Montgomery County, named by the governor as winners of a total of more than $3 million for airport safety and facilities maintenance and improvements.

PVA is one of the state’s 134 public-use airports and heliports, 15 of which offer have scheduled commercial service. It serves about 50 single-engine airplanes. It is located 10.7 miles southeast of Sanatoga PA.

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NORTH COVENTRY PA – Hundreds of people turned out Thursday morning (April 2, 2009) for a free and heavily promoted spring job fair conducted by the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce at the North Coventry Fire Company on Route 724. Workers-in-waiting patiently sought their turns to speak with assembled employers and organizations offering help to those needing jobs.

There’s more such help to come. A career fair that features up to 20 area businesses recruiting for part-time, full-time, temporary and seasonal employment, will be held April 22 (2009; Wednesday) from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in the South Hall lobby of Montgomery County Community College, 101 College Dr., Pottstown PA.

Meanwhile, the number of people filing first-time jobless claims increased last week and those already receiving benefits hit a record for 10th straight week, according to federal Labor Department figures released Thursday morning. The agency said initial claims for unemployment insurance nationwide increased to 669,000 … 12,000 more than the previous week’s revised figures. The number exceeded analysts expectations and is the highest in more than 26 years.

In other labor-related news Thursday:

Employees say they’re generally optimistic. Results of a national survey of employed adults shows that fewer employees feel secure in their jobs, but a sizeable majority – 74 percent – have no concerns about being laid off. The survey, by Glassdoor.com, also indicates an even larger margin of workers, 86 percent, thinks their company’s outlook will stay the same or improve within the next six months. And 36 percent of them are confident they’ll receive an annual raise.

U.S. companies seem to be imposing fewer job cuts. The number of announced layoffs by U.S.-based employers dropped again last month (March 2009), representing the second consecutive month of lowered workforce reductions, the Philadelphia Business journal reported, citing a study by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Since the beginning of 2008, more than 1.8 million job cuts have been announced. Employers in government and nonprofit sectors conducted the heaviest layoffs during March, it said, followed by the pharmaceutical industry.

There’s labor peace, sort of, in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania and its largest employee unions said they came to terms on ways to reduce state labor costs, allowing Gov. Ed Rendell to rescind his threat to immediately begin rolling furloughs of state workers. The unions gave the state permission to reduce by 20 percent the amount it would contribute to employee health care benefits, saving $200 million over 15 months. It will pay the money back in installments, beginning in September 2010. Rendell also installed a pay freeze for state managers and non-union employees, saving another $140 million through 2011.

If you’re unemployed, there’s help available. The Pottstown law firm of Wolf Baldwin and Associates, which specializes in unemployment and worker compensation issues, blogged about joblessness in neighboring Berks County and state distribution of unemployment benefits. The final paragraph of its post includes links on articles about how to file for unemployment, and how to stretch job severance dollars.

Editor’s note: Some items in this story resulted from tweets received at The Sanatoga Post’s Twitter account. Feel free to follow or contact us on Twitter @jzlomek.

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HARRISBURG PA – Middle and high school students considering careers in health care may want to look into eight being touted by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell as “professional opportunities that will be in great demand.”

The eight are dental assistants, dental hygienists, medical and clinical laboratory technologists, medical and clinical laboratory technicians, pharmacists, physical therapists, radiological technicians, and respiratory therapists. They’re expected to generate about 70,000 jobs in the state by 2014, according to a report released earlier this year.

Health care careers currently account for more than 500,000 of the nearly 5.8 million jobs in the commonwealth. Health Careers Week, sponsored by the state Department of Labor and Industry, began Monday (Nov. 10, 2008).