Stephen Catanzarite – 2/15/07

This page was last updated on February 18, 2007.

Sharing the costs; Stephen Catanzarite; Beaver County Times; February 15, 2007.

The last time I critiqued a letter from Mr. Catanzarite he told us “Veon’s presence is crucial.” Oops.

In that letter, Mr. Catanzarite failed to disclose his position at the time of Managing Director of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland. This letter was no different. I’ll leave it to you to speculate why. At least in this letter an editor’s note asserted Mr. Catanzarite “is dean of arts at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland,” though the LPPAC website indicates Mr. Catanzarite is still Managing Director.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In his 2007-08 budget, Gov. Ed Rendell includes $1 million to provide expert advice to help school districts explore opportunities for sharing services and programs.

“The goal of the initiative is simple: Make every dollar count in the classroom. Across Pennsylvania, some school districts are already banding together to share services in ways that benefit both students and taxpayers.

“For example, the Cornwall-Lebanon School District and the Northern Lebanon School District realized a combined profit of $100,000 after just one year of sharing a food services director.”

[RWC] Let’s hope Mr. Catanzarite sticks to the arts. School districts are government entities and thus can’t earn profit. Assuming this example isn’t made up, the school districts saved $100,000 in costs; they didn’t realize a profit.

Of course, perhaps I shouldn’t be too hard on Mr. Catanzarite for this faux pas. He took the example and the wording from Pennsylvania Department of Education and/or Gov. Rendell marketing collateral. In fact, much of this letter is a regurgitation of that collateral.

I also noted neither Mr. Catanzarite nor the PDE told us what happened to the alleged $100,000. Does anyone care to guess why?

“Dubbed the ‘Common Cents’ program, Rendell’s initiative encourages school districts to consider partnerships for providing instructional services, food services, finance and payroll, health services, human resources, administration, transportation, safety and security, purchasing, facilities and real estate and technology services.

“This type of cooperation will benefit students by improving the quality and breadth of services, while simultaneously benefiting taxpayers through increased efficiency.”

[RWC] Don’t get me wrong. Combining purchasing power where it makes sense is a good idea. Believing, however, it will benefit taxpayers is a leap of faith my experience won’t let me make.

Here’s only one reason why I’m skeptical when Mr. Rendell talks about saving money. With his new budget, commonwealth spending will have increased about 31% since Mr. Rendell took office in 2003, from about $20 billion to over $27 billion. Of course, Mr. Rendell shouldn’t shoulder all the blame. We have to remember we had Republican majorities in both houses of the General Assembly during this time.

“Recognizing that entrepreneurial initiatives in the public sector often get tangled up in bureaucracy, the governor has also called upon a group of school officials and management experts to meet and make recommendations for changing any laws which might stand in the way of school districts working together improve services and save money.

“Finally, Rendell has reaffirmed his commitment to work with the General Assembly and the education community to create a statewide school employee health benefits system - a shared service idea that will protect the healthcare benefits of educators while saving money.”

[RWC] Why is it in the taxpayers’ interest to “protect the healthcare benefits of educators?” We need less government interference in the healthcare system, not continued or more.

“I applaud the governor for his vision and leadership on this issue and hope our local school districts will take this opportunity to create new and exciting partnerships that will help reform and improve our system of public education.”

[RWC] I know this is a tacky comment, but has Mr. Catanzarite switched to smooching Mr. Rendell’s butt now that Mr. Veon’s butt is no longer available or useful?

Hmm, I wonder why Mr. Catanzarite didn’t mention school vouchers if he really wants to “help reform and improve our system of public education.”