Charter school makes first hire

The York Academy Regional Charter School, a new charter school in York that will bring city and suburban students together starting in September 2011, hired its first staff person. Kathleen Eshbach was approved Dec. 13 as the school's first chief academic officer. She is assistant principal at Spring Grove Elementary School in Spring Grove School District. She will assume her new position Feb. 1. A York Daily Record story this week provided more details.

The hiring marked another significant milestone for the school, which emerged from YorkCounts' Metro-York process as a way to deal with the education challenges posed by concentrated poverty in the city. The public charter school came about through the collaboration of the three chartering school districts - York City, York Suburban and Central York.

School officials are also preparing for the effort to enroll the first group of students. The school will open with three grades - three classes each for kindergarten, first and second - with a total of around 225 students. To fill those slots, the school will soon begin the process of distributing brochures to families in the three chartering districts. Brochures and applications will also be mailed to families that had expressed an interest in the school earlier this year. Parents that want to enroll their kids in the school will be able to do so early in 2011.

Around the same time, the school will begin advertising for the first teaching positions. About 50 staff members will eventually be employed by the school, which is located in the heart of the Northwest Triangle project a short walk from Central Market, the Strand-Capitol and Sovereign Bank Stadium.

Finally, the school continues to add more information to its Web site, http://www.yorkarcs.org/. Go there and get a sense of the mission and vision of the school, see the backgrounds of the people running it, or learn about the admission process. You can also download a copy of the student application.

- Dan Fink

Mayor Bracey: Another way to protect civil rights in York

York Mayor Kim Bracey, writing in an op-ed in today's York Daily Record, defends her recent position in the discussion of York's 2011 budget calling for changes to the funding of the city's human relation commission.

She points out the enormous budget difficulties that all Pennsylvania cities have, with soaring costs related to public safety, health care and pensions, while at the same time seeing the tax base continue to erode. At a recent city council meeting, as reported by Lacaster Online, she wondered if city residents could be adequately served by the state Human Relations Commission and urged a community discussion of the question.

But in the op-ed, she took a couple of more forceful positions. First, she called out the newspapers:

"Our local print media has called for the continuation of funding. It has been suggested the specific allocation of tax dollars to the York City Human Relations Commission should continued if for no other reason than based upon the ongoing strained race relations in this geographic area. Meanwhile, the same newspaper rarely depicts stories of the lives of people of color as being part of something other than criminal mischief in the greater York area."

Then she said it was simply unfair for the city alone to have to carry the burden of civil rights protection for the community.

"In an ideal world, either the state Human Relations Commission or a county-wide commission would take on the tasks our city commission admirably has done through the years. Instead of the poorest residents in our county subsidizing the county's only human relations commission, a countywide human relations commission would more effectively serve all citizens in one of the fastest-growing counties in Pennsylvania.

Our county has grown to now over 410,000 people, becoming more racially, culturally and socially diverse each year. On a per 100,000 population basis, York County, according to a 2006 study, ranks second in the entire state for reported bias-related incidents. That is in a state of 67 counties."

Finally, she proposes a fourth way - not the state HRC, not a city commission, not a county commission, because she understands the political and fiscal realities. She offers an idea that would bring together a coalition made up of groups that could all have an interest in reducing discrimination in York County.

I extend an open hand to the county, the bar association, our faith community, and the private sector to collaborate on a fully functioning county-wide commission in the future.

Can we build on what we have to make our commission more effective without burdening our county's most economically challenged citizens? Can, for instance, the fact-finding or discovery work of the commission be handled by local attorneys doing pro bono work on behalf of civil and human rights?

Since Sunday morning often is the most segregated time of the week, is there a collaborative role for the York County Council of Churches, their member churches, and church youth groups? Can we work on a Metro York pilot program where costs are shared by a foundation, federal grants, the city and the county?

YorkCounts spent considerable time over several years working to establish a countywide human relations commission through York County government; it was a recommendation in the 2004 YorkCounts Action Plan. The commissioners ultimately decided they didn't have the money to pay for it.

But Mayor Bracey raises some intriguing questions. And YorkCounts would be happy to play whatever role might foster the community conversation that the mayor is looking for.

How about it York? Is it time to talk about this?

- Dan Fink

Public pension primer from Brookings

OK, so the workings of public pensions isn't exactly a sexy topic for holiday party conversation. But I've Tweeted about them a few times recently, noting that state and local governments across the country are dealing with growing shortfalls in their pension funds - meaning that government money going into the pension fund isn't keeping up with the amount of money that's due to be paid out.

 

And because the problem isn't going away anytime soon - unless there's a miraculous boom in the stock market - you can expect to hear about more strained government budgets and more calls for public pension reform in the coming months.

 

To help make sense of the rhetoric around what can be a hard-to-understand topic, the Brookings Institution published a primer on public pension funding deficits - how big is the problem, what caused it and how it can be solved.

 

The first few pages are full of some pretty dense explanations of how pension obligations are calculated. The basic point is that there is a wide range of estimates on the total shortfall of all U.S. state and local pension funds, and no matter which one you pick, the problem is serious and getting worse.

 

Starting on page 10, the report explores the causes of the problem, identifying several factors:

 

• Bad accounting. The actual liability, meaning the forecast of what will be needed to pay all future claims, has been underestated, which has led to more generout benefits packages and lower funding.
• Risky investments. If pension funds invest too heavily in higher-interest products like stocks, the returns could be higher, but you run the risk of weak stock markets wiping out pension funds. That's what happened across the country during this recession.
• Short-term political horizons. "Pension deficits can be easy for politicians to hide or ignore for their four- or eight-year term in office, which was likely a factor in the growth of the problem over many years," the report states. Some states even made the deliberate choice of skipping minimum contributions, either because the fund had plenty of money (in good times) or because budgets were tight (in bad times).

Possible solutions include:

• Cutting benefits or raising employee contributions for new workers
• Reducing inflation indexing for existing benefits
• Switching to a defined-benefit plan, like a 401(k)
• Raising taxes and increase contributions
• Cutting general government services and use the money for increased contributions
• Seeking a federal bailout

Read the entire report and this York Daily Record story from November on Pennsylvania's pension shortfall, and you'll be able to offer some informed opinions on public pension deficits that might actually turn some heads at the next holiday party.

 

- Dan Fink

Have you found the Clear Blue Sky blog?

The blogger at Clear Blue Sky has started offering up some passionate, optimistic posts about the future of downtown York. The most recent post argues, with a long list of points, that York has reached a kind of tipping point, with momentum building toward what might be "a renaissance":

"Something exciting is going on in York -- something bigger than all the small stories put together. It's adding up to an authentic renaissance and a real success story in a central Pennsylvania town in the middle of one of the worst national economies in 70 years. ... Despite all the challenges, York is on a serious roll.

What's the difference today as compared to two years ago? Two words: outside money. The out-of-town residents, business owners, investors, artists and hipsters are starting to discover this gem. And the great part is that they can buy property relatively cheap because some local owners don't realize their town is hitting the tipping point. This is the free market working it's magic. This is the perfect storm."

Another post stresses the urgency of inspiring every child in York County - black and white, rich and poor - to seek their full potential.

Clear Blue Sky's love of community jumps off the page. Check it out.

- Dan Fink

YorIT issues challenge

So you think you have good idea for downtown retail, but you're not sure how to find funding? The folks at YorIT might have an answer.

YorIT, a program of the York County Community Foundation, has launched the YorIT Social Venture Challenge to provide funding to the "next big idea." On Dec. 14, the public is invited to the former Futer Brothers building on Continental Square to hear a presentation on the challenge and to promote philanthropy and the YorIT program. The building was picked specifically as a place to have a conversation about the potential of downtown York. The Futer Brothers building, recently rehabbed and looking for tenants, is one of several key vacant downtown buildings that downtown supporters would like to see occupied.

Proposals are due Feb. 11. YorIT has about $18,000 available for worthwhile restaurant or retail proposals.

Click here to read a York Dispatch story about the venture challenge. Visit www.yorit.org/challenge or follow @YorITChallenge on Twitter for updates.

Update, 10:30 a.m. Nov. 24: Mandy Arnold, one of the co-chairs of the challenge, e-mailed me to clarify that the approximately $18,000 "will be available for ideas that can be a catalyst for retaining and attracting retail and restaurants" in York. She added: "While we may consider funding an actual restaurant/retail space, (applicants) need to make the case that it will foster continued growth of other retail and restaurants."

- Dan Fink

The squeeze is on

It's budget time for local governments, the time when elected officials look at the numbers to see what it will take to balance their budgets without a property tax increase.

And rest assured, nobody wants to raise taxes.

Two stories this week show the difficult financial situations that municipalities across the county are facing.

In Seven Valleys, borough council is considering a proposed budget that would double the property tax from 0.6 mills to 1.2 mills, according to a story in the York Dispatch. The increase is needed to pay for a road maintenance project from two years ago:

The borough contracted York-based Stewart & Tate for milling and paving work on South and Maple Streets in 2008. The project cost about $255,000. The borough received about $115,000 in federal grants to help pay for the project. To cover the remaining expense, it took out a $140,000 bank loan from Peoples Bank.

Over the past two years, the borough has been paying back the 10-year loan by pulling money out of its general fund reserve, Bahn said. By the end of this year, Bahn said the borough will have about $90,000 remaining in the fund.The borough has eight annual payments -- about $17,500 each -- remaining on the loan.

And if it continues to pay for the loan by pulling money out of the fund each year, Bahn said, the borough will "go broke."

And a bit further south, New Freedom officials are seeing if they can get a better deal on police service, according to the York Daily Record. The borough pays about $500,000 a year for contracted service from Southern Regional Police Department. The department also provides service to Glen Rock, Railroad, Shrewsbury and the Southern York School district. The story suggests that if New Freedom leaves, the whole arrangement could be in jeopardy:

New Freedom gave notice during the summer that it would be looking to price options with other departments, officials said. It has been talking with Southwestern and York Area regional police departments. Some people have not been happy with Southern Regional's service, New Freedom Mayor Jeff Joy said, but he thinks they should give the new chief, James Boddington, a chance to fix problems.

Meanwhile, Glen Rock continues to annually review its options because of budget constraints and now, in light of New Freedom's move, Shrewsbury will weigh its options as well.

New Freedom could save several thousand dollars a year by switching to Southwestern Regional or York Area Regional departments. But they'll continue to have the same decision to make every year, depending on what their budget situation is. YorkCounts supports exploring whether a dedicated funding source - like a "police" tax that would be comparable to the current 911 tax on phone bills for emergency services - would provide a more stable financial model for regional departments.

But that discussion requires nuanced thinking. And that doesn't fit well in the current environment, where politicians just won elections by tapping into the "No tax increasses" mantra. Unfortunately, bumper-sticker thinking won't solve most of these problems. Local elected officials have some difficult choices to make. And if they do their homework and try to do the right thing, they should be applauded, not attacked.

Update, Nov. 19: Add Dallastown School District to the mix. The district held a community forum this week, and residents showed up simmering about property taxes and staff pay. Read the York Dispatch story here. Seems like there might be growing political support (that is, voter support) for new approaches to education - how we fund it, how we organize it.

- Dan Fink

Live blogging from Gifts That Give Hope

We're at Gifts That Give Hope York, and more than 20 York County nonprofits have their displays set up and are ready to tell folks what they do. It's an unusual fundraising opportunity, organized by the Women's Giving Circle. Stop in and see if there's a special holiday gift for a friend or relative that will also support a local community improvement. We're all on the second floor. YorkCounts is in a corner room with Kevin from YorkArts, Julie from York Little Theatre, Joan from the York Junior Symphony and Trisha from the YWCA. Stop in and say hello.

Update, noon: Folks are beginning to trickle in after church and lunch. I spoke with a man who said he was interested in buying a gift of tickets to a York Symphony concert because his family supported the symphony when he was growing up in Iowa. That's the kind of personal connection this gift fair can generate.

Update 2, 3 p.m.: Mary Lou Alsentzer, the woman who put this together, said both local newspapers and a TV station have been in to cover the fair. So look for stories about the fair tonight and tomorrow on TV, in print and online.

Update 3, 11 a.m. Nov. 10: The first report from Mary Lou indicates more than $8,000 was raised at the event Sunday, with gifts averaging around $200. Remember: You can help increase that total through the holidays by buying gifts online at www.giftsthatgivehope.org/york/.


- Dan Fink