While public school districts will be getting long-delayed state money soon, it might not stave off the need for them to take out loans.
The Pennsylvania Treasury said Wednesday it will expedite $3.3 billion of delayed state payments to schools, counties and human service organizations within about two weeks.
On Tuesday, Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed portions of a long overdue state budget plan, while releasing more than $23 billion for certain programs in total.
The approved portions of the budget are intended to prevent schools and social services from closing or using lines of credit and loans to weather the state budget impasse. In addition, Wolf released some school subsidy funds, even while using his line-item veto to strike out the education funding in the budget bill.
Wolf wants higher educational funding than the legislative-passed plan provided.
“School districts will receive the money owed to them through Dec. 31,” Wolf’s spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan said.
Bellwood-Antis Superintendent Tom McInroy said his district may still need to use a line of credit if the impasse continues much longer. And he is wary of fine print that might be attached to the stopgap funding.
It could pass through districts quickly.
For example, amid the impasse districts have widely deferred their contributions to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System because they had no state funding for the past six months.
“Does this now mean we have to pay back PSERS? If so, that money we get from the state will go there and not other areas of need,” McInroy said.
As the impasse stretched, districts also deferred payments to charter schools the way they deferred payments to PSERS.
Charter schools are expecting to be paid when districts get their stopgap funding.
“They (districts) are legally required to pay tuition for their students to attend charter schools as long as districts are getting money,” said Bob Fayfich, director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools.
“What districts are receiving is the first six months of their state funding. District money passes through to charter schools an amount per student for each of their students that attend a charter school. They must pay it.”
But there are a lot of other expenses that districts need state funding for, too.
“Even if we are funded up to Dec. 31, we have ongoing payroll expenses, electric and gas bills, transportation. … No doubt, the money we get can push back our use of credit, but it’s not the cure,” McInroy said.
Across the state districts have already taken hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and lines of credit to weather the budget impasse.
The interest on those loans would be paid by local or state taxes. Wolf said months ago that he supports reimbursing districts for loan interest if he could get such a measure passed by the General Assembly.
Mirror Staff Writer Russ O’Reilly is at 946-7435.