CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — In looking at an anticipated budget deficit of $1.27 million for the 2015-16 fiscal year, the Clarion Area School District feels it has a revenue problem and not an expense problem.

(Photo courtesy of Gina Mazzocchi)

Even though CASD has received approval to raise property taxes to the maximum level under Pennsylvania’s Act One, a tax increase, if enacted, would provide only $330,000.00 and reduce the deficit to approximately $900,000.00.

“The local school district does not really have the ability to deal with this budget situation,” said Clarion School Board President Eric Funk.

“We don’t have the tools in our tool box to fix this or even come remotely close to fixing it.  It’s not an expense issue; it’s a revenue issue. It’s really unethical how schools are funded in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Clarion has been on the wrong side of that funding situation now for many years.”

“The gap simply can’t be bridged by local sources. The only thing that helps balance our budget and maintain the integrity of what we think is excellent educational programs for our children would be revenue support from Harrisburg.”

In recent years, other Clarion County School Districts have projected similar deficits, but in the end found funds it had not included in original calculations.  Asked if Clarion could find itself in a similar situation, Funk emphatically ruled out that possibility.

“It won’t happen for Clarion,” explained Funk.  “We have a very precise handle on our financial situation, and there aren’t any savings accounts or investments out there that we’re not taking into consideration.  Unfortunately, we won’t have any found money to help solve the problem.”

According to Funk, Clarion School District receives roughly a third of its total operating budget from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and there are other districts in the county receiving over 80 percent of their operating budget from the Commonwealth.

“The state process of ‘Hold Harmless’ ensures that money continues to be provided to those districts over the course of the years with no change. While the converse is true in that no change has been made to Clarion Area funding — which means our small percentage is locked in even though our needs and our demographics as it relates to personal income and market value of real estate have declined — our funding from the state has remained the same.  The gap has been bigger each year while some other districts gaps have not grown at all.”

CASD Superintendent Michael Stahlman and Funk agree that it is not their intention to hurt any other school district in Clarion County with an appeal for a correction in funding for Clarion.

“We trust that they have made great decisions over time, and — had we had the same funding flow from the state — we would’ve probably made the same types of decisions that they made,” said Stahlman. 

“We don’t condemn them in any way for that.”

Stahlman and Funk believe there is precedent for additional Commonwealth funding for school district like Clarion caught in a school funding formula dilemma.

“In the past two years, the state has put about $30 million a year out to 21 specific school districts to help them out in exactly this same situation or similar situations, and that’s been well documented in the press and their budget bills,” said Stahlman. 

“What we are asking is to consider us for one of those supplements and to help us out in that way.  We are asking them to give us an additional $1,500.00 per student, which is about $1.2 million.  That would still leave us below all of the other area school districts in our funding but would certainly help us a great deal, and it’s no different than what has been done for those other 21 school districts.  The statistics would bear out to show that no fewer than two different sources indicate we are in the top as far as being hurt by ‘hold harmless.’  One source even has us being the most harmed district in the state.”

Letter writing campaigns to ask for the special Commonwealth funding are well underway in the CASD.  For example, Wednesday night saw a SOS (Save Our Schools), a student-supported letter writing campaign, held from 6 to 8 p.m.  Students, faculty, staff, and community are all involved in the various letter-writing activities.

The second “Committee of the Whole” public meeting about the budget is planned for Tuesday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m., in the school auditorium.

“We hope that there will be some meaty discussions on the direction the Clarion Area School Board intends to take,” said Funk.  “We have not really dug into the expense side of the budget yet.  We have identified some possibilities and all are extremely distasteful.”

Some of the “distasteful” possible cuts were presented at the first Committee of the Whole meeting and included possible allowable expenditure reductions such as:

• Athletics and Other Co-Curricular Activities
• Books and Supplies
• Field Trips
• Maintenance of Buildings
• Non-Mandatory Programs and Personnel in: Art, Elective Courses, Elem Phis Ed, Full Day Kindergarten, Guidance, Industrial Arts, Library, Music, and Technology

Funk said that budget review will continue, but he doesn’t intend to vote for a budget that takes anything away from the children.

“Those are the decisions that will have to be considered.,” said Funk.  “I believe as a school board member, it’s my primary role to ensure that our children are getting a quality education and that means holistically, academically, interscholastically, and the arts and everything are a part of that educational experience, and it is very difficult to consider altering any of what we think are very high quality programs.”

“Unfortunately, the physical side of that equation trying to be good fiscal managers necessitates looking at those expenses to see if they can be sustained. I don’t intend to vote for a budget that cuts any programs for children.  I think we have reduced our programs to the minimum point that our community tells me that they desire for their children, and that’s my intention not to support a budget that takes anything away from our children.”

For more CASD budget information go to https://www.clarion-schools.com/annual-budget.