SSVC's fate sealed

Andrea Rich City Editor

Jun. 30, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- It doesn't matter if the state has a budget by midnight tonight or not, Scotland School for Veterans' Children is officially unfunded, after June 30, according to the state department of education.

"As of June 30 it will not be funded," Michael Race, a spokesperson for the state department of education, told Public Opinion Monday. Employees were given a furlough notice "some time ago" effective June 30, he added.

"Regardless of the budget, the school is closing," Race said. He added that things could change if the budget is negotiated before adoption to include funding for the century-old school.

It had been a tug of war all spring, starting when Governor Ed Rendell's proposed budget eliminated the roughly $10.5 million it takes to operate the school. The governor's staff said it's too much money benefiting too few.

The governor's budget staff concluded that Scotland School served too few students at too high a cost, according to Jessica Wright, adjutant general of the state Department of Veterans Affairs. The same services are readily available in the state education system.

Wright outlined the situation in an e-mail to the school: The average cost per student at Scotland School is about $45,000 per year, which is about four times greater than the average cost per student at public schools. The high cost of services and experiences are not justified when other state programs are being cut.

The school admits children directly related to an honorably discharged veteran. It was established in 1895 as a residential school for the orphans of Pennsylvania's military servicemen.

Retired state Sen. Terry Punt, R-Waynesboro, rallied senators and veterans groups in 1991 to counter a proposal by then-Gov. Bob Casey to close the school within two years.

"I assured the governor no budget would leave the Senate without full funding for Scotland School," said Punt, then-chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "We never passed a budget until August or September. We were hit with a recession and bad revenues. The budget deficit was something like $500 million. We've never had as bad a budget deficit as they have this year."

The state has argued that test scores for SSVC students are too low and the original premise of serving war orphans is outdated.

Advocates of the school, from legislators Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin and his Philadelphia-area constituents to alumni and veterans organizations say the proposal to close the school is a "slap in the face" to all veterans and that many of the state's arguments are half truths or inaccurate.

Kauffman sponsored House Bill 1552, the SSVC Closure Moratorium Act, would prevent the state government from closing the school until the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee can conduct a study and make recommendations to the school's future.

The bill has languished in the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee since May 29.

This year the Pennsylvania state budget is in the red in the neighborhood of $3 billion -- growing by leaps and bounds from first estimates earlier this year when the governor scrapped SSVC from the funding list.

When the governor's intent to close the century-old school first came to light, Rendell's office said employees would be given assistance in finding new jobs and the students could either go back to their own school districts where they lived before attending SSVC or go to Milton S. Hershey school.

On Monday, Race said he had no idea how many employees found other work, because their employment is a "private sector matter."

"We routinely sent out job listings, the onus is on them," Race said.

He also said that he believed "half" of the 288 students in grades 3-12 had found new schools, but quantified that by saying the students or their families were under no obligation to report where they were going to school next.

A source close to the situation said not a single student has fully cleared the Hershey school's acceptance criteria.

When asked what would become of the school property, Race said it was not an issue for PDE, but for the Department of General Services.

A study on the economic impact of closing SSVC was done earlier this year by The Civic Research Alliance, LLC., of Mechanicsburg,

The study claims that SSVC contributed $20,565,770 to the local economy in 2007-08, based on calculations by the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. The school's contribution equals about $1.68 for every $1 spent by the school and about $2 for every dollar spent by the Commonwealth.

Jobs would be lost across all types of business categories, the study says. The jobs of 186 school employees account for only 44 percent of the jobs that would be lost.

Although Franklin County has a lower unemployment rate (5.5 percent) than its neighboring counties, it is moving closely with the state economy (6.4 percent), according to the study. The closing of SSVC "will raise the unemployment rate in Franklin County by 0.2 percent," it argues.

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Andrea Rich can be reached at 262-4764 or arich@publicopinionnews.com.

Newstex ID: KRTB-1011-36118509