Why The School District Of Lancaster Is Financially Thriving When Similar Districts In Pennsylvania Are Failing

Times are tough for urban school districts in central Pennsylvania.

Saddled with stagnant tax bases and serving large numbers of low-income and special-needs students, they’re struggling to stay afloat in the face of steep cuts in state and federal education funding.

But School District of Lancaster isn’t experiencing the economic woes of its neighbors.

The school districts in York city and Harrisburg have been declared “financially distressed” by the state, which appointed financial recovery committees to develop radical plans to keep them solvent.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/842996_Why-the-School-District-of-Lancaster-is-financially-thriving-when-similar-districts-in-Pennsylvania-are-failing.html#ixzz2RoBpQLeT

Proposed Budget Hikes Berks Property Taxes For 1st Time In 8 Years

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Berks County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Berks County property taxes would increase for the first time in eight years under a proposed $462 million budget for 2013 presented to the Berks County commissioners Thursday.

If the budget would be adopted as it stands, annual taxes would rise by 6.3 percent to 7.372 mills from 6.935 mills, or $43.70 annually on a property assessed at $100,000.

The spending plan represents a $2.8 million decrease from the current year’s budget.

The tax increase would raise about $7.7 million, Budget Director Robert J. Patrizio Jr. said.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=428418

Norristown Area School District Faces Huge Deficit And Tax Hike

The Norristown Area School District is staring into an almost $6 million dollar budget hole.  They need to cut, cut, cut AND increase taxes.  The district is looking to outsource some in-house functions, layoff 15 teachers, freeze wages and raise taxes to keep the district on a level playing field.

If the cost cutting measures are implemented by the board, district homeowners still face a 2.17 percent tax increase.  The increase comes to $83 a year in additional tax for the average homeowner.

The Norristown Area School District has six elementary schools, three middle schools and two high schools (one is an alternative high school).  There are 6,727 students.  The district spends $14,075 per pupil and has 12 students for every full-time equivalent teacher.  In 2008 the dropout rate was 5 percent, 22 percent of students have an IEP and 10 percent of students are ELL.  Data from Wikipedia and Education.com

Just a NOTE for 222 Chestnut Street aka Mount Olympus.  Norristown has twice as many students as Pottstown but only has one more elementary school.  Plus NASD covers Norristown Borough along with East and West Norriton Townships, so their district is far more spread out.

The elephant in the room – why does “Responsible Tom” feel we need to have five elementary schools in Pottstown when THREE would be sufficient???  Yet the plaid one has the chutzpah to wag his glossy finger at others and call them “big spenders” while advocating keeping two schools open that we do not need and cannot afford.  And please do not forget Mr. Hylton’s push to put in pretty windows and geothermal heating on top of keeping five elementary schools open.

Boyertown And Upper Perk Teachers Vote For Wage Freeze

The Boyertown and Upper Perk teachers have agreed to a wage free to help both districts plug their budget deficits.  The savings realized will be in the millions of dollars!

Boyertown has a $6.5 million budget deficit and Upper Perkiomen has a $1.5 million deficit.  Boyertown teachers agreed to forgo raises for this year and next year.  This will save the district about $3 million each year. 

Upper Perkiomen teachers approved a wage freeze for the 2012-2013 school year.  This should save the Upper Perk nearly $500,000 dollars.

Pottstown administrators have agree to a wage freeze but we are still waiting to see what direction the contract negotiations will take with the teacher’s union.

Pennsylvania State Education Association Requesting Teachers Consider Wage Freeze

The largest teacher’s union in Pennsylvania is urging its members to consider Governor Corbett’s proposal that teachers take a one-year wage freeze to help plug the Commonwealth’s $5 billion budget deficit.  The PSEA suggested that other cost-saving measures be considered, in addition to the wage freeze.

While the union is fighting the massive education cuts in the governor’s proposed budget, I applaud their effort to make this sacrifice.

We are facing very difficult times.  Everybody will have to make sacrifices to help Pennsylvania climb out of this chasm.  Many companies are not giving raises to their employees due to the recession.  This is nothing new for most Pennsylvania residents.