Every Other State but PA (Philadelphia, Wilkes-Barre: credit, school districts, community college)

[E-Z-B]

Originally Posted by Wells5

The politicians talk about raising taxes to over fund schools but real cost controls such as eliminating teacher tenure and collective bargaining and requiring a vote on school budgets and new school construction and outlawing strikes are non starters.

If you hate schools and teachers so much, then move to Mississippi or Alabama. You get what you pay for there.

[Wells5]

Originally Posted by E-Z-B

If you hate schools and teachers so much, then move to Mississippi or Alabama. You get what you pay for there.

You appear to be knowledgeable about Alabama and Mississippi. Are you or your ancestors originally from those places?

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by Wells5

What I'm talking about is a mandatory local referendum on municipal bond proposals. PA is the only state without one. Local school boards can stick the taxpayers with a huge debt for financing new schools, etc. All that's needed is a majority vote of the school board and an "Act 34" meeting, which is a formality.


Take our next door neighbor, New Jersey. Hardly any schools in NJ have a swimming pool and there are lots of very rich school districts in that state. Lots of PA schools have 25 meter competition pools. New Jersey voters turn down swimming pool proposals.



Tom Ridge ran on an "initiative and referendum" pledge. He reneged on both promises. I haven't heard of any such promises from Shapiro or Mastriano.

Any data on the swimming pools or the building of new schools compared to neighboring states?

Also, if PA has more swimming pool schools than NJ, it's likely due to the age and difficulty in retrofitting pools in NJ schools.

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by Wells5

You appear to be knowledgeable about Alabama and Mississippi. Are you or your ancestors originally from those places?

Alabama is #47, Mississippi is #43. PA is #37 & NJ is #1.

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by blazerj

Alabama is #47, Mississippi is #43. PA is #37 & NJ is #1.

First of all, this discussion is about K12 local education. The rankings that you cite combine PreK-12 and higher education. The PreK-12 rankings are Alabama is #45, Mississippi is #43, PA is #17 & NJ is #1.

I question how PA's higher education ranking could be #50 when PA has colleges and universities including University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, Bucknell University, Lehigh University, Lafayette College, Villanova University, Drexel University, Swarthmore College and many others. The ranking does not explain their methodology, but I'm guessing the higher education ranking is mainly based on cost and not quality.

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by villageidiot1

First of all, this discussion is about K12 local education. The rankings that you cite combine PreK-12 and higher education. The PreK-12 rankings are Alabama is #45, Mississippi is #43, PA is #17 & NJ is #1.

I question how PA's higher education ranking could be #50 when PA has colleges and universities including University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, Bucknell University, Lehigh University, Lafayette College, Villanova University, Drexel University, Swarthmore College and many others. The ranking does not explain their methodology, but I'm guessing the higher education ranking is mainly based on cost and not quality.

Correct and my point still stands.

I haven't seen any metrics that show PA is spending a ton of money on swimming pools and I'd argue that PA is worse than neighboring Northeast states.

For higher education, PA gets dinged for the tuition and fees and amount of debt students leave with

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by blazerj

Correct and my point still stands.

I haven't seen any metrics that show PA is spending a ton of money on swimming pools and I'd argue that PA is worse than neighboring Northeast states.

For higher education, PA gets dinged for the tuition and fees and amount of debt students leave with

I don't know how PA compares to other states in regard to swimming pools. A quick check found there are 583 senior high schools in the PIAA and 319 of those schools have swimming teams. A few of those schools may be renting pool times from YMCAs, colleges, etc.

Another major athletic expense are artificial turfs and all-weather running tracks. Some of the smallest high schools in my area have artificial turfs and all-weather running tracks.

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by villageidiot1

I don't know how PA compares to other states in regard to swimming pools. A quick check found there are 583 senior high schools in the PIAA and 319 of those schools have swimming teams. A few of those schools may be renting pool times from YMCAs, colleges, etc.

Another major athletic expense are artificial turfs and all-weather running tracks. Some of the smallest high schools in my area have artificial turfs and all-weather running tracks.

"when I was a kid..." swimming instruction was compulsory in larger districts. Im assuming, it no longer is... (fwiw so was 2 + years foreign langauge and that seemed to go the way of the dodo)

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by RetireinPA

"when I was a kid..." swimming instruction was compulsory in larger districts. Im assuming, it no longer is... (fwiw so was 2 + years foreign langauge and that seemed to go the way of the dodo)

I had swimming every year from 7-12, but I think a lot of kids mostly avoid it if they can because they are given choices. I'm not sure how much actual swimming instruction ever took place. In junior high, we were told to swim x number of laps. I think it would be a good idea to somehow make it a graduation requirement to be able swim a couple lengths of a pool.

BTW, I think most school districts in Westmoreland county have a pool. It looks like only Jeannette, Southmoreland, Yough, and Monessen don't have swimming teams.

[Wells5]

When I was growing up in the Wyoming Valley in the early 1960s, only one public high school had a swimming pool- Elmer Meyers High School in Wilkes-Barre. I don't know if it was 25 yards in length. Now just about every Wyoming Valley school district has a competition size (25 meter) lap pool. It can cost a school district hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to heat and maintain such a large pool.


The Wilkes-Barre Area SD has a brand new "Taj Mahal" high school complete with a 10 lane 25 meter competition pool and diving area. The taxpayers of course had no say in the building plans. Their only obligation is to cough up the money to pay the considerable yearly costs of the pool.