HARRISBURG - A decline in statewide student achievement scores can be attributed to state education spending cuts and is certainly not tied to cheating on tests, said former Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday.
"The evidence of cheating is minuscule compared to the numbers of students," Mr. Rendell told the Pennsylvania Press Club. "I think funding matters."
Six school districts are under investigation by the education department for cheating, including Scranton and Hazleton area.
Mr. Rendell's comments put him directly at odds with remarks made by Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis on Friday upon releasing Pennsylvania System of School Assessment scores from last spring showing fewer students are proficient in math, reading and writing. New security procedures in place for those tests led to a truer measure of student achievement and indicate scores being artificially inflated by the cheating of teachers or administrators, said Mr. Tomalis.
The current administration doubled down on Mr. Tomalis' comments Monday.
"There's no question that the cheating scandal that took place when he (Mr. Rendell) was governor had a significant impact on the test scores," said Gov. Tom Corbett's spokesman, Kevin Harley, when contacted later.
Mr. Tomalis made a thorough analysis of PSSA test scores using the new benchmarks that reflect tighter security, Mr. Harley said. Efforts to reach Mr. Tomalis were unsuccessful Monday.
Mr. Rendell said education programs he advanced while in office from 2003 to 2011 with state support like all-day kindergarten, pre-kindergarten education, smaller class sizes and teacher training cost money, but brought results with higher achievement scores.
He said the state budget for fiscal 2012-13 includes money for a Rainy Day fund while continuing to make education cuts. Mr. Rendell gave some credit to lawmakers for restoring a portion of education cuts proposed by Mr. Corbett.
Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.com