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Switch to in-house Luzerne County tax collection back on the public agenda

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State Sen. Lisa Baker: Avoid destructive budget standoffs by changing state’s constitution

Due to the ludicrous state of affairs in Harrisburg, certain Pennsylvania school districts could close this year much sooner than the customary month of June.Students in particularly cash-poor districts might cue up Alice Cooper&#8217;s rock anthem &#8220;School&#8217;s Out&#8221; closer to Easter break, according to recent warnings. Or maybe Earth Day.Presumably, however, those same pupils won&#8217;t be pardoned from getting in their required number of annual educational hours; they will be expected to enroll in neighboring districts to finish the school year. Chaotic? Yes &#8211; for students and school administrators.Acceptable?No, not at all.The school-shutdown scenario, which this area&#8217;s contingent of state lawmakers discussed last week during a roundtable organized by the Luzerne Intermediate Unit in Kingston, shows just how pathetic partisanship has become.Gov. Tom Wolf&#8217;s press secretary makes the case in a <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/opinion/columns/519654/jeff-sheridan-expect-runaway-school-property-taxes-if-republicans-get-their-way-with-state-budget" target="_blank">column on Tuesday&#8217;s Opinion Page</a> that Republicans are to blame for insufficient education funding in prior state budgets that has, in turn, driven up school property taxes. Some Republicans portray the sitting governor as a tyrant, unwilling to compromise.Unable to reach agreement for nearly nine months, the parties appear ready to use the threat of widespread school closures to cause a public uproar. Certainly when enough angry parents start yelling, the warped logic goes, the other side in this standoff will be compelled to blink.Good grief. At its essence, this &#8220;solution&#8221; &#8211; in lieu of actual representation and bargaining &#8211; boils down to using children and school-age teens as pawns.State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, argues that the system requires wholesale change to prevent the kind of manufactured budget crisis now crippling the commonwealth. &#8220;The most effective remedy is to continue state funding when a new budget is not approved by July 1,&#8221; she writes <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/opinion/columns/519656/state-sen-lisa-baker-avoid-destructive-budget-standoffs-by-changing-states-constitution" target="_blank">in a column appearing this week in the Times Leader</a>. &#8220;Keep running the state under the old budget. To prevent overspending, set the funding rate at 80 percent, leaving room for deciding the ultimate spending and taxing levels.&#8221;Don&#8217;t expect this, or any, reform to speed through the General Assembly.Do expect the brinkmanship to continue for a while longer, pushing some school districts to consider ridiculous actions.Faculty, parents and students will plan contingencies for possible interruptions to academics, sports and extracurricular activities. Will seniors be set by summer&#8217;s start for college or other post-graduation plans? Can a high school baseball season be squeezed in? What will happen to prom?End the speculation.Tell your elected officials in Harrisburg to stop the absurdity and avoid school shutdowns. If anything should be closed for a few months, it&#8217;s the Capitol.

Our Opinion: Don’t allow deadlock over Pennsylvania budget to cause school chaos