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Polaris School unintended victim of Brightbill ouster[]
- By Richard Fellinger, Staff Writer, Lebanon Daily News
HARRISBURG — It was clear voters wanted a change last year when they ousted Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill — who paid a dear price for backing the despised 2005 pay raise — and replaced him with Mike Folmer, a former tire salesman and idealistic reformer.
The first state budget of Folmer's term made something else clear: Freshman lawmakers don't have the same clout as legislative leaders, and politics can be a tough business for idealists.
The point was underscored by the recently adopted state budget that slashes funding for alternative schools, including a staggering $5.5 million for the Lebanon School District's highly acclaimed Polaris School. Polaris opened three years ago at 704 Willow St. with a three- year, $9 million grant that Brightbill helped engineer.
While the school district has enough money on hand to keep the school open this year, it will probably close next June unless funding is restored or a new way can be found to pay for it.
Statewide, the budget cut funding for alternative schools from $43.3 million to $17.5 million. Alternative schools serve students who have proven too behaviorally disruptive for the regular classroom. Mike Young, a Harrisburg-based pollster, said any district that replaces a senior lawmaker should expect to see less funding from certain state accounts.
"It's a political fact of life," Young said.
Folmer, who lives in Lebanon, said he is still looking for ways to keep Polaris operating, and local voters should not be concerned about losing their fair share of state money in the future. He also criticized the budget system and other high-level decisions to fund other state projects this year — especially sending more than $200 million of gaming proceeds to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a new hockey arena.
Folmer described Polaris' funding mechanism as an "embedded WAM," a shorthand term for "walking around money" that benefits certain politicians' districts. He said the budget system should be changed so projects are funded based on merit instead of political clout.
"That discretionary spending on WAMs is not the Republican caucus' money, and it's not the Democratic caucus' money, and if we're going to be doing it, it should be divided equally," he said.
Folmer said he expects to meet soon with Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak to discuss Polaris' future. As for other funding needs, Folmer said he recently took part in a grant seminar with state department heads and sees nothing to indicate Lebanon County will lose more.
Some top Folmer supporters said they don't regret backing him last year, and the new senator deserves a chance to prove his worth over a full term.
"At some point in time, a senior legislator is going to go, and when he's replaced he's going to be replaced by a freshman," said Ken Shaefer of North Londonderry Township, a Folmer fan.
Another, Laurel Lynn Petollichio of Mt. Gretna, blamed Gov. Ed Rendell for the latest budget decisions and said Brightbill, who lives in West Cornwall Township, would have been more likely to compromise with the Democratic governor on a budget plan that many Republicans blasted as tax-happy.
"I think if we had Chip Brightbill in there, we would have a much higher tax increase than we're going to get," Petollichio said.
Russ Diamond, the Annville businessman who led a campaign to replace the entire Legislature last year, believes Polaris' funding would not have been cut if Brightbill were still in office. But Diamond said the entire situation shows why more change is needed in Harrisburg.
Diamond said the budget process should be more open and the budget itself approved earlier to discourage deal-making and surprises. Reform-minded voters may have to suffer more budget setbacks until more sweeping changes are made, he acknowledged.
"Hopefully, that will be in 2008," Diamond added.
Brightbill, who now works for the law firm Stevens & Lee, did not return a call seeking comment for this story.