An example of why local newspapers matter so much
High School SportsHigh School SoftballHigh School SwimmingHigh School TennisHigh School Track and FieldHigh canada goose outlet toronto factory canada goose uk black friday School Volleyball HS Boys Volleyball HS canada goose clearance sale Girls VolleyballHigh School WrestlingCollege SportsPro SportsSubmit ScoresSubmit Sports News
Diamonds to Dallas and Greater Nanticoke Area school districts for passing final budgets with zero tax increase. It a relative rarity in this area to see any district forgo a tax hike, and seeing two districts do it in the course of three days is a bit heartening. There still more than a month before they have to make the budgets final, and anything can happen, canada goose outlet in usa but administrators for both districts seemed confident the no increase plans will become reality. Here hoping, as other districts pass their budgets, more are able buy canada goose jacket cheap to follow this example.
Coal to the attorneys and judges in Stanley Waleski lawsuit regarding creosote exposure, for turning proceedings into a game of musical courts. They got the case, involving Avoca plaintiffs and canada goose outlet the defunct Kerr McGee Corp. wood treatment plant that operated in the borough, moved from Luzerne County court to federal court in Scranton, then to federal official canada canada goose coats on sale goose outlet court in New York City. It moved again to federal bankruptcy court in New York City and now could be moved again. It past time to settle on a venue so the merits of the case can be debated, rather than its location. If all goes well, the Penguins will be playing in the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza for another 10 years, serving as the buy canada goose jacket anchoring tenant for the multi purpose venue. LCCCA Board Chairman Gary Zingaretti said the agreement the culmination of months of hard work by both sides, and that easy to believe. But it should be worth it to keep the arena vibrant and viable for another decade.
Coal to the lack of transparency regarding an otherwise welcome development cheap canada goose in downtown Wilkes Barre: the new hotel and canada goose outlet nyc convention center planned for the corner of Northampton and South Main streets. Diamond within this coal to city Councilman Tony Brooks for pushing for more information on the construction plans related to historic facades that are supposed to https://www.chinese-sharpei.de be preserved. This doesn have to become a battle, it should become a cooperation by both sides to get the hotel built while keeping promises made when it was first proposed, and more transparency can accomplish that.
Diamonds to the Luzerne Foundation for recently celebrating it 25th anniversary. Keeping with its motto Canada Goose online for good, the foundation celebrated Thursday by awarding grants to 26 organizations, 25 of them canada goose black friday sale getting $10,000 and one getting $25,000. canada goose outlet black friday The Foundation has proven its value by taking on many causes and helping establish many charities under its umbrella. Here looking forward to even more good in the next 25 years.
Coal to those who try to thwart justice through witness intimidation. The latest allegation: Wilkes Barre Police Canada Goose sale arrested two men accused of threatening a witness involved in a drug case. It may be no surprise that those charged with breaking the law in the first place would have scant compunction about avoiding the consequences with more law breaking, but it takes a special kind of cowardice to get caught and still try to skirt justice with violence.
As soon as Wilkes Barre canada goose black friday sale Area School District Superintendent Brian Costello pitched his idea of offering property tax cuts for increased state money, critics labeled it little more than wishful thinking. pipe dream, regular board adversary Sam Troy called it.
But that doesn mean it should be a pipe dream, or that it can be something bigger, something attainable, something to build on.
For starters, Costello proposal wasn manufactured out of thin air. He rooted his argument in a fact created through actions of the state legislature: A formula drawn up to more fairly distribute state Basic Education Funding (BEF).
The funding formula, in turn, stemmed from the report from a commission also set up by the legislature to figure out what it would cost to give all public school students in Pennsylvania what they need to succeed.
Both that report canada goose outlet online and the fair funding formula showed clearly that the current system is amazingly inequitable, thanks to the reliance on local property taxes. Districts with a lot of wealthy families living in posh mini mansions can and do spend many times more per pupil than districts serving mostly low income families.
The formula was intended to fix that, but it became immediately clear that if all state money went through the new formula, some districts would get millions more, while others would get millions less.
Not surprisingly, those canada goose outlet store wealthy districts didn like the idea of losing state money, and they had the electoral clout to cow legislators into implementing a harmless policy, meaning no district would lose money under the new formula. The upshot: Only money allocated for BEF would go through the formula.
The problem with harmless is that it does no such thing. All the districts that would be getting considerably more money under the formula got much smaller increases in state dollars. They are still harmed by the inequity that remains baked into canada goose outlet sale the system.
In the case of Wilkes Barre Area, the district would be getting about $33 million more annually if all BEF money went through the fair funding formula. Costello is proposing the state give the district that money in exchange for a promise to lower property taxes.
Costello noted the state has been giving lots of extra money to a few cash strapped districts (Erie, Scranton, Allentown to name three) without any promise of tax cuts or other fiscal moves by said canada goose outlet districts. Wilkes Barre Area did get $1 million extra in that limited largesse.
Costello framed his idea as a better option: Give a district more money in exchange for specific actions, in this case lower property taxes.
That shouldn be a pipe dream, it should be a smart opening offer in a bid to get more money flowing through the fair funding formula. Rather than dismiss the idea out canada goose outlet jackets of hand, legislators should give the idea serious consideration as one option in erasing education equity, and perhaps come up with a counter proposal preferably one that benefits all shortchanged districts.