Chester County is Nice… Depending on Who You Ask

Chester County is a nice place to live.  Throughout the recession, the median family income never dropped below $100,000.  In 2010, the Inquirer reported that Chester County was among the 25 richest counties in the nation.  That’s out of more than 3,000 counties.  On the whole, the financial situation in Chester County is a good one.  But when we look a little deeper we find a troubling trend: while things are fine at the top of the economic spectrum, things are getting worse at the low end—especially for children.

While the median family income in Chester County is within 1% of where it was in 2008, the number of children living in poverty has increased 55% in that period.  Of those children living in poverty, nearly half of them are living in deep poverty, below half the poverty line.  That’s less than $12,000 a year for a family of four.  But why focus on children?  Because poverty does not affect everyone equally; in Chester County, the poverty rate for children is nearly 50% higher than that of seniors.  Children make up less than a quarter of the county’s population, but almost half of its population receiving food stamps.

 

Children make up such a large percentage of those receiving food stamps because their enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) jumped 56% from FY 2009-10 to 20012-13.  Unfortunately, SNAP benefits were reduced in November 2013, leading a family of four, on average, to lose 21 meals per month.  There are other programs available to ensure children receive the nutrition they need, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP).  Regrettably, while the number of Chester County students eligible for free or reduced-price meals has increased 27% since 2008, participation rates in NSLP and SBP have actually dropped.  In fact, while every school district in the county saw its number of eligible students rise, none serve breakfast to more than a third of those eligible.  The number of eligible students more than doubled in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, yet they serve breakfast to less than 5% of those eligible for the program.

 

One of the problems of living in such an affluent county is that there can be a stigma attached to enrolling in supplemental assistance programs, such as signing up your children for free or reduced-price school meals.  With low pre-recession unemployment rates, Chester County is not used to dealing with so many people in need, people at the low-end of the economic spectrum who were hit much harder than the majority of the county.  It is imperative that schools and local municipalities do whatever they can to ensure that their students get the nutrition they need, whether this means changing the time, location and method of service of breakfast or reaching out to parents with the benefits of enrollment.  It is true that taken as a whole, things look good for Chester County; but it won’t truly be good until that can be said about every child in the county.

Heading in the Wrong Direction: More Delaware County Children Suffer from Hunger and Poverty

In Delaware County, children—particularly young children—are more likely to be living in poverty than any other age group.  The number of economically disadvantaged students continues to rise, and Delco school districts are struggling to meet their needs.  To fully understand the problem, we must delve deeper into food insecurity in Delaware County.

Since 2008, the share of children in poverty in Delaware County has increased 30% and the number of students eligible for free and reduced price school meals increased 20%.  But there’s a difference between recognizing a need and fulfilling it.  In 2012, 12 of Delaware County’s 15 school districts served school breakfast to less than a quarter of eligible students.  The Springfield School District has seen a nearly 80% rise in the number students eligible for free or reduced price meals; looking closer, we find only 8% of eligible students were served breakfast.  But the most egregious district is Marple Newtown, where the number of eligible students more than doubled.  Marple Newtown does not offer a breakfast program.

In fact, countywide, participation in school meals has actually dropped since 2008, despite the rise in need.  Only two out of three eligible students receive lunch, a nearly 10% drop, while participation in school breakfast has dropped five percent to less than a third of eligible students.  Of course, school isn’t the only place where children need assistance with food.  The number of Delaware County children enrolled in SNAP (food stamps) increased 31% in the last three years to the point where children make up more than two out of every five SNAP participants in Delco, despite being less than a quarter of the population.  Unfortunately, as of November 1st, SNAP benefits were reduced so that Delaware County families will lose an estimated $6.7 million in benefits in the coming year.

For the 16% of Delaware County children experiencing food insecurity, the problems don’t end with being hungry in class.  Ultimately, food insecurity exacts a huge cost as it contributes to a greater likelihood of limited employability, lessened workforce productivity, poorer job performance, and $260,000 lower lifetime earnings.  “A growing number of parents all across Delaware County are having trouble putting food on the table for their children,” said Kathy Fisher, PCCY’s family economic security director for PCCY.  “Now, more than ever, it is important for county leaders to do everything they can so children don't go hungry in Delaware County.”

Hunger doesn’t come out of nowhere.  Food insecurity is not caused solely by a lack of access to benefits.  If people can afford proper nutrition, they’ll supply it for their children.  While the nation has spent the last four years pulling itself out of the recession, the median income in Delaware County is actually $5,600 less than it was in 2008.  As you may have imagined, families on the lower end of the economic spectrum were hit the worst.  One in four families in Delco makes less than $45,000 a year, up 23% since 2008. The best strategy for reducing childhood hunger and food insecurity is a job that pays a decent wage for parents.  If our legislators don’t take action to help get these families back on their feet, there’s little hope for children who don’t have enough on their plates.

Not All Kids Are All Right in Bucks County

2012 saw a recovery of sorts for Bucks County, with the median family income finally returning to 2008 levels, but there’s little relief in sight for children at the lower end of the economic spectrum.  A disproportionate number of children—nearly 9,000 total—in Bucks County live in poverty, and the situation continues to get worse.  Most troubling, not nearly enough are getting access to the benefits they need.

In Bucks County, children—especially those under the age of six—are more likely to be living in poverty than adults.  The poverty rate for all children is 25% higher than the rate for adults; the rate for young children is shockingly nearly 70% higher than the adult rate.  These figures are alarming, but what do they mean in real terms?  They mean that 1 in 7 children in Bucks County don’t have access to enough food to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  While there are resources to help combat the food crisis Bucks County currently faces, it is clear that not enough is being done to ensure they get to every child in need. 

Less than a quarter of Bucks County’s residents are children, but nearly 40% of its residents on Food Stamps (SNAP) are.  This is due to a 20% rise in the share of children in low-income families since 2008, in turn leading to a 43% increase in children receiving Food Stamps from FY2009-10 to FY2012-13.  With the 43% increase in children on Food Stamps, there was a corresponding 42% increase in students eligible for free and reduced-price school meals from 2008-12.  That, in and of itself, is not surprising.  It makes sense, since these are the same children we’re talking about.  But eligibility does not equal access.  Despite thousands more children needing free or reduced-price lunches, participation in the program actually fell 5% in the last five years.  And only 20% of low-income students received school breakfast in 2012.

 

For children, having enough nutritious food everyday should be a right, not a privilege.  Insufficient nutrition is one of the most basic and formidable challenges standing in the way of children’s well-being.  Children growing up without food security are more likely to experience higher rates of educational problems including missed days of school, suspension and the need to repeat a grade.  In Bucks County, more needs to be done to combat the rising numbers of food insecure children.  Nancy Morill, President of the Bucks County Women’s Advocacy Coalition agrees.  “Mothers across the County are doing everything they can to help their children grow,” she said.  “Bucks County Families are facing increasing needs in this time of economic stress, which we hope our federal and state elected officials recognize.”  As the County has started to pull itself out of the recession, there is no more important time to focus on its children.

 

Lack of State Investment Leaves Schools Struggling to Meet the Needs of Rising Number of Low-Income Students

Last month we showed the trend of rising share of low-income students in Delaware County and the challenges those students face in Delco’s public schools.  Today we’ll take a deeper look at the numbers and see what needs to be addressed and why the state is making matters worse.

The number of students in Delaware County eligible for free and reduced-price lunch jumped 18% between 2008 and 2012.  The impact has been felt particularly hard in Upper Darby, where a 30% increase since 2008 has resulted in nearly 6,800 qualifying students—almost 30% of all students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch in Delaware County.  Unfortunately, Upper Darby wasn’t the only district in Delco having to deal with a major increase in economically disadvantaged students. In Marple-Newtown, the number of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch more than doubled and in Springfield, the rate grew by nearly 80%.

What is most important is that resources are made available to help these districts support students with more difficult home lives.  While education is often seen as an equalizer to combat the cycle of poverty, many districts in our region are not equipped with the resources necessary to support students from economically disadvantaged families.  Data shows that children living in economically-disadvantaged families have greater difficulties meeting the demands of school.  One of the best investments towards a lifetime of success is guaranteeing a strong start, such as with full day kindergarten.  Regrettably, you won’t find it in the in the three school districts listed coping with major increases in economically-disadvantaged students.  With 863 students, Upper Darby has by far the largest kindergarten enrollment, more than twice as much as any other Delaware County district.  But Upper Darby does not offer full day kindergarten.  Things aren’t much better in Marple-Newtown, where less than 3% of kindergarteners receive full day education, and Springfield doesn’t have any full day kindergarten seats.

Expanding access to early childhood education costs money and thanks to politically motivated school funding decisions in Harrisburg, 93% of Delaware County school districts are currently funded at a level below where they were just three years ago. Only Upper Darby has seen an increase over 2010 levels, but that doesn’t mean it is adequately funded.  Not by any means.

PCCY compared current funding levels to where they would be if the state went back to a research based funding formula and found that Delaware County school districts are being shorted more than $45 million this year alone.  And Upper Darby is responsible for the largest part of that funding deficit; its funding gap is roughly the size of the next two largest deficits combined.

 

The problems faced by Delaware County are not unique to Delco, people all over the country are still struggling from the recession and school districts have felt the effects.  But the problems are addressable.  By reinstituting a fair funding formula in Harrisburg, the state can ensure that Delaware County schools get the funding they need to provide the best possible education for all their students, regardless of their economic situation at home.

Connecting the Dots – Drops in Employer Based Coverage, Medicaid failures and Less Children Insured spells trouble for the Governor’s “Healthy PA”

There has been a trend over the last decade in Pennsylvania where fewer children have employer-based health coverage and more children have moved to public coverage.  Unfortunately, over the past two years the state has taken action to remove nearly 100,000 children from Medical Assistance—and nearly a third of them live in southeastern PA.  This has led to a frightening fact: according to a recently released study by The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), a higher percentage of Pennsylvania’s kids were uninsured in 2012 than in 2013.

HAP reports that “the number of Pennsylvanians covered by private, employer-based plans hit an all-time low of 59.5 percent in 2012.”  Meanwhile, from August 2011 to September 2013, there was a net reduction of 93,000 Pennsylvania children from Medical Assistance.  Almost 29,000 of them from southeastern PA.

Alarmingly, this is anew trend in Pennsylvania.  In the five months between August and December 2011, there was a drop of more than 88,000 children from Medical Assistance.  This many children haven’t been removed from Medical Assistance since 1997’s welfare reform, after which, tens of thousands of kids were eventually reinstated.  At the same time, Pennsylvania had the largest reduction (almost 10%) in Medicaid enrollment for children, families and pregnant women.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, that drop was almost three times larger than the state with the second largest reduction.

So what’s the reasoning for the draconian cuts from Medical Assistance? News reports revealed that many of the cuts “turned out to involve paperwork that [advocates] say DPW lost - sometimes repeatedly, even when clients had receipts - or that had never been sent in the first place. Roughly two out of three people cut were dropped for missing or incomplete paperwork.  The official numbers don't count an additional 23,000 children whose benefits were cut and eventually restored retroactively, often with legal help. But poorer people may be less likely to call a lawyer, and child advocates believe thousands have no idea they are now uninsured”. 

In a cruel bit of irony, this comes at the same time that Governor Corbett touts his Healthy PA Plan, which proclaimed, “No child in Pennsylvania should be without health care.”  In fact just last month, the Governor said his goal is to “insure all children in Pennsylvania”.  We couldn’t agree more with that goal, but actions speak louder than words and over the last few years it’s become harder for PA children to get health insurance.  Every child in Pennsylvania has the right to medical coverage; we need to work together to reverse the trend of the last decade, toward a day when there are no uninsured children in the state.  And the first thing we need to do is make sure no one is removed from Medical Assistance who truly needs it.

Because of Underfunding, Not All Schools Are Equal in Montgomery County

At first glance, the education situation in Montgomery County appears better than in many of the surrounding areas.  But better isn’t good enough. Countywide, education in Montgomery County is strong.  Still, despite having the best graduation rate in the region and exceeding state averages on the PSSAs, there is a great divide among school districts in the county.  The instructional spending gap between the highest and lowest spending districts is $142,000 per classroom. The county contains the Lower Merion School District, one of the wealthiest districts in the state, if not the nation.  Montgomery County also has rising poverty—the number of students eligible for free and reduced price lunch jumped 45% from 2008 to 2012, the largest increase in the region.  Chronic underfunding due to the lack of a funding formula from the state, to the tune of $34 million this year alone, has led districts across the county to raise taxes during the recession, increasing the burden on already hurting Pennsylvania families.

Pennsylvania is one of just three states without a funding formula for education.  PCCY’s analysis has found that if the formula from 2008 remained in place, Montgomery County schools would have an additional $34 million this year from the state.  But this isn’t a one-year problem.  In fact, every district in the county is receiving less than it did three years ago.  As you can see by the graph below, Norristown took by far the biggest funding hit, which is particularly troubling because the Norristown School District is home to the highest number of students receiving free or reduced price lunch in the county.

To cope with the state’s underfunding, school districts only have a few options.  The money for educating students has to come from somewhere, and because layoffs are always a last resort, local taxes often have to be raised. Eighty three percent of Montco school districts have done just that since 2010 and the spending gap between districts has grown.  Wealthier districts, by definition, do not need to greatly increase their tax burden to raise sufficient funds for their schools.  At the other end of the spectrum, districts with weaker tax bases need to raise property taxes at a much higher rate to see even a moderate funding increase—that reality is even more troubling when you consider that the tax burden in these areas is already disproportionately high.

This economic disparity is a double whammy, hitting children in the classroom and parents in the bank account.  The Pottstown School District has the highest property tax rates in the county, roughly double those in wealthy Lower Merion, but it has some of the lowest classroom spending—Lower Merion’s is about 60% higher.  Lower Merion’s more than $16,000 per student instructional spending is 79% that of the lowest spending district, Upper Perkiomen.  Because of this disparity, things aren’t as good as they initially seem in Montgomery County.  And until there is a fair funding formula that shifts the burden from an unequal tax base, they won’t be.

PA School Districts' Credit Ratings Threatened

Thanks to the nature of Pennsylvania’s charter law and underfunding from the state, the expansion of charter schools in recent years has debilitated the finances of Pennsylvania’s school districts.  As a result, by creating more educational options for a small share of students, state policy is undermining the conditions where most students go to school.  And nowhere has been hit harder than the School District of Philadelphia.

A new report from Moody’s raises a red flag about school district credit ratings finds that the charter boom increases districts’ debt and puts their credit rating at risk, and Philadelphia is the prime example.  The report points out that in Philadelphia, charter enrollment has skyrocketed from four in 1997 to 80 in 2012; a development which has had terrible consequences for the District’s financial well being.  The report points to many bleak trends without even mentioning the complete elimination of $266 million in state aid granted to the districts with the highest levels of charter enrollment.  Of course, given high charter enrollment Philadelphia was hit hardest, losing $110 million in charter funding in 2011 and none of it’s been replaced by other state aid.

“Pennsylvania requires school districts to use a portion of their revenues, including their basic aid allocation, to fund charter school tuition on a per-pupil basis.  As the result of this formula, the district’s revenue outflow to charter schools grew from $126 million, or 7.9% of General Fund expenditures, in 2003 to $533 million, or 23.7% of General Fund expenditures, in fiscal 2012.  With charter-related costs rising and state and federal revenues down, financial reserves turned negative.”*

But Philadelphia isn’t the only school district feeling the charter budget crunch.  In the York City School District, “from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2013, charter school tuition expenses rose by $18 million, while state aid rose less than $6 million.”  This forced the district to layoff 20% of the workforce.

The problem with Pennsylvania’s model is the savings from a student leaving a district is less than what is being paid to the charters.  As Moody’s notes, “Shifts in student enrollment from district schools to charters, while resulting in a transfer of a portion of district revenues to charter schools, do not typically result in a full shift of operating costs away from district public schools.”  That difference is what caused York to layoff one-fifth of their employees.

You would think with a commitment to expanding charter schools, the Governor and legislature would do something to help school districts contend with charter costs.  When the Governor cut nearly a billion dollars from public education, he and the state legislature eliminated charter reimbursement, which refunded districts about a quarter of what they paid to charter schools.  Think of the financial struggles the Philadelphia School District has battled this year.  Now take a quarter of that $533 million they paid out to charter schools and give it back to them.  Suddenly, a good portion of the District’s financial problems are solved.

Now as the legislature is debating charter schools again, but they’re still unwilling to pay for stranded costs school districts must absorb as charters grow.  Senator Smucker has offered SB 1085, which would make charter expansion much easier in Pennsylvania—further putting a burden on our school districts—without offering to pay for it.  A major expansion of charters without a replacement of the charter reimbursement will have a crippling effect on districts statewide.

The truth is that as charter school attendance continues to rise—and it will—and the state continues to refuse to shoulder some of the burden, each year will be worse for school districts where the charter growth is most pronounced. 

*Moody’s, Special Comment: Charter Schools Pose Growing Risks for Urban Public School Districts