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With Manny Machado and Bryce Harper sill unsigned, MLB’s free-agent season remains in a polar vortex

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Part of West Market in Wilkes-Barre will be closed this morning

<p>Luzerne County School Districts would receive nearly $13 million in additional state money under Gov. Tom Wolf&#8217;s proposed 2019-20 education budget, with increases in both basic education and special education money.</p><p>The biggest winner, percentage-wise, would be Wilkes-Barre Area, which would see state funding shoot up 10 percent compared to this year.</p><p>There are a lot of caveats beyond the initial hurdle of getting the Democratic governor&#8217;s proposals past a Republican-controlled legislature.</p><p>The biggest bugaboo in Wolf&#8217;s education funding proposal is a plan to increase the minimum salary for public school teachers, from $18,500 to $45,000. Announcing the proposal, Wolf called it a &#8220;fully-funded mandate.&#8221;</p><p>In Luzerne County, according to data released with the budget proposal, the law will impact seven of 11 districts. Here are the districts and the amount the change will cost:</p><p>Crestwood, $10,940; Dallas, $123,157: Greater Nanticoke Area, $5,388; Hazleton Area, $178,526; Northwest Area, $19,655; Pittston Area, $38,471; Wyoming Area, $46,096.</p><p>Another caveat: Wolf&#8217;s proposal shifts money provided last year under the &#8220;Ready to Learn Block Grant&#8221; program to the Basic Education Funding budget line, and shifts money previously provided to offset money lost when students enroll in charter schools, putting it into the block grant category.</p><p>Both are bookkeeping moves, not changes in total money from the state.</p><p>The big changes are a total of $200 million for basic education funding and $50 million for special education funding. In Luzerne County, the former means increases ranging from $276,441 for Northwest Area to $3.3 million for Wilkes-Barre Area. The latter means increases from $32,224 at Northwest to $332,598 at Wilkes Barre Area.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Area districts would see nearly $13M more under Wolf budget