Educational leaders came together Tuesday during a virtual press conference to address the “urgent and growing impacts” of the state budget impasse, which has been ongoing for more than 100 days.

Tuesday marked day 106 of financial strain for school districts across the commonwealth — forcing many school board members and administrators to “walk the same financial tightrope” of using loans with interest to keep lights on in schools and classrooms open for students and teachers, said Schuylkill Haven School District Superintendent Shawn Fitzpatrick.

Hollidaysburg Area High School teacher Mike Rawlins, who is also president of the Hollidaysburg Area Education Association, said his students deserve better than what officials in Harrisburg are providing.

Hollidaysburg Area is waiting on almost $4.9 million in funding the district should have received in September, according to Pennsylvania State Education Association estimates.

“This is just unacceptable,” Rawlins said. “Our district has a lot of funding issues locally as well as from state budgets. We can’t afford to put this off much longer.”

Rawlins said Hollidaysburg Area is holding off payments to charter schools and several other vendors. The district is also “seriously looking at other cuts,” he said.

“This affects all of our students, all of my students in the classroom every day as we look to have to cut programs in the future,” he said. “This does a grave disservice to the students in Blair County and Senator (Judy) Ward’s district and beyond.”

Last week, the state House of Representatives passed “a responsible, balanced state budget that had bipartisan support,” Rawlins said.

“We need the (state) Senate to step up and take action,” he said.

Funding basic education is the commonwealth’s responsibility to current and future students, Rawlins said, noting school districts “should not have to take out loans and pay interest on money that should be automatically provided from the state.”

Greater Johnstown Ca­­reer and Technology Center Administrative Director John Augustine said career and technology centers, as nontaxing entities, cannot borrow funds to meet budget demands due to the lack of state and federal income.

“All of our burden is placed on our school districts that sponsor our career and technology center, making their matters even worse,” Augustine said.

Republicans and Democrats alike have long supported career and technical education as a cornerstone of Pennsylvania’s economy, Augustine said.

“Now is the time to demonstrate bipartisan leadership to provide safeguards for our students, our taxpayers and for the commonwealth’s future workforce,” he said. “This isn’t about partisanship; it’s about partnership. Pennsylvania’s students deserve stability, not a stalemate.”

Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators’ president and Norristown Area School District Superintendent Chris Dormer said school districts did their part and adopted a final budget by June 30.

If the budget impasse continues into 2026, students “will be forced to go without” many educational and extracurricular programs, Dormer said.

Dormer said, by January, school districts are required to either declare a preliminary budget for the subsequent school year or pass a resolution stating school board members are not going to seek exceptions that exceed the state’s Act 1.

“Every day, every week (and) every month that the state budget delays, our preparations for the next year become that much more difficult,” Dormer said.

Sabrina Backer, Pennsylvania School Boards Association’s president-elect, echoed Dormer’s comments. When it comes to passing a budget, she said school districts are being held to a higher standard than state officials.

“We are required to pass a budget by June 30. The information that we need to pass that budget is like a carrot on a string,” Backer said. “They’re expecting us to produce with no information.”

Across Pennsylvania, there are 500 public school districts that are represented by 4,500 school board members, said Edward Albert, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools.

Those 4,500 board members may not always see eye to eye, but at the end of the day, they came together and passed a budget, Albert said.

Albert said he hopes state officials will do the same, sooner rather than later.

“This is not a time to point a finger at Democrats or Republicans. It’s a time for the Democrats and Republicans to get together, to get the job done so we can go on with what we have to do,” Albert said. “I hope (they can) get it done quickly.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.