Charleroi threatens school closures over state budget impasse
CHARLEROI – Charleroi Area School District suggested it may be forced to close unless the governor and state lawmakers end a more-than-eight-month state budget impasse holding up education funds.
Officials said in a statement posted on the district’s website they may close schools by May 1 – more than a month before the scheduled end of the school year June 2.
The district already borrowed $4.5 million to keep its schools open because of the stalled 2015-16 state budget. The interest on that loan will cost taxpayers nearly $50,000, equivalent to 1 mill in revenues from real estate taxes, the statement indicates.
“We borrowed $4.5 million – that’s unheard of – just to keep our schools open and our staff paid,” said business manager Crystal Zahand.
The district has about 1,500 students in three schools, according to its website.
Charleroi and other districts across the state received a portion of their allotments of state funds in January following the passage of a state budget at the end of last year. In signing the plan, Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, excised portions of the spending plan prepared by the Republican-controlled Legislature before he signed the document.
Charleroi received $5.2 million – about 45 percent of its total allotment of state funds for the school year – under the budget.
Wolf’s partial veto move meant districts across the state are still waiting for their full allotment of funds for the fiscal year that began July 1.
Charleroi Area schools depends on the state for about 60 percent of their budget.
District officials said they share their challenges with counterparts across the state.
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association cited possible school closures and loans estimated to have totaled about $1 billion by Pennsylvania school districts this year as reasons for a lawsuit the group filed March 9 seeking the release of past-due payments to school districts.
Charleroi Area officials urged taxpayers to contact Harrisburg “and tell them that we need a full state budget now,” the online message from the district states.