Politics & Government

Op-Ed: Legislative Changes Can Help School Districts, Taxpayers

The following was written by state Rep. Warren Kampf.

 

Editor's Note: The following is an opinion piece from state Rep. Warren Kampf (R-157). To submit a letter to the editor, email lynn.jusinski@patch.com. 

As gas prices soar and food costs climb, we’re all trimming unnecessary expenses. 

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But imagine if a government edict barred you from cutting your cable service because it could cause pay cuts at HBO and Showtime. Or what if you were required to buy name-brand soda so as not to damage Pepsi’s bottom line? 

How about a law that forced you to retain your lawn service because Green Thumb Inc. had the funds to hire lobbyists to get such an unreasonable proposal transformed into legislation? 

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Now imagine you’re on a school board. You are faced with skyrocketing pension costs and a staff armed both with the right to strike and lobbyists who circle Harrisburg looking for 101 members who vote for bills that—let’s be honest—sell out taxpayers.  

And there’s little school districts can do about the unaffordable pension plans that cost far more than the retirement plans of the private sector.

If you're on a school board, you need help.

Like so many budget debates, the current battle over school funding will no doubt degenerate into a simplistic squabble over providing more dollars, without any thought put toward controlling expenses. And while that funding fight is important for the short-term stability of our schools, it’s the equivalent of standing on the Titanic and shouting: Keep bailing! It might buy some time, but the ship is still going down. We need to make changes.

Consider this: According to the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, our prevailing wage laws require school districts to pay bricklayers in Chester County over 40 percent more in pay and benefits than they would receive working on a private home. Ironworkers are paid more than 70 percent higher. And glaziers? They get 130 percent more in pay and benefits on public projects than on private jobs.

No one is suggesting the men and women on these labor-intensive jobs shouldn’t be paid—just pay them the market rate. Unfortunately, school districts can’t because our prevailing wage laws forbid it.

So no matter how much money we send to our local schools, the cash comes with restrictions so tight they shackle our school boards from making reasonable long-term financial decisions. 

Clearly, Harrisburg must change these laws to adapt to our current fiscal reality. We must reform the state pension system, which has been a prime goal of mine since entering the legislature. But we must be realistic about the battle ahead. 

Our attempts to reform the prevailing wage laws are bogged down under weight of the special interests and their lobbyists. But imagine if the law we were fighting to change was as irrational as requiring a family to pay for HBO just to prevent network layoffs. No one would tolerate it.

The laws we must change are just as illogical. The only difference is you’d have to pay for the cable service directly from your bank account and would be outraged every time you wrote that check. However, the money you pay for an inflated prevailing wage or massive pension obligations caused by an antiquated system is several steps removed. It comes from taxes automatically deducted from your pay or lumped in your property taxes so, in time, the sting diminishes. 

But it’s all your money. It’s time you demanded accountability and changes to our laws.  You must be as loud as the lobbyists and special interests fighting our reforms. 

You would not tolerate such laws impacting your personal budget. Do not tolerate them when they hammer our school districts.   


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