Souderton Area School District Superintendent Frank Gallagher speaks at a Norristown press conference earlier this year. Photo by John Worthington | The Reporter.
District officials say further reforms needed
Local school districts are set to receive millions in additional funding following the adoption of the 2024-2025 state budget, with over $1 billion in new K-12 education spending.
The budget includes more than $500 million in “adequacy gap” and “tax equity” funding for the state’s most underfunded districts, a response to a landmark Commonwealth Court ruling deeming Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional due to large funding gaps between the state’s wealthiest and poorest school districts.
The budget also includes $100 million to reimburse districts for cyber charter tuition payments and some adjustments to disability payment formulas, estimated to save public school districts $34.5 million. However, the budget scrapped a proposal to cap cyber charter tuition rates at $8,000.
Souderton Area
Under the state budget, the Souderton Area School District will receive an additional $433,014 in funding, a 3.6% increase over the previous school year. The district will also receive $145,470 in cyber charter reimbursement savings.
Souderton’s recently-approved budget notably accounts for $600,000 in anticipated savings from reforms to cyber charter funding formulas. Superintendent Frank Gallagher, a leading advocate for cyber charter reform, expressed disappointment at the ultimate outcome.
“We are relieved that a budget has been passed and thankful for the small increases but disappointed in the lack of true cyber charter reform,” said Gallagher.
Pennridge
The Pennridge School District will receive an additional $350,025 in funding, a 2.6% increase over the previous school year. The district will also receive $89,665 in adequacy gap and tax equity funding and $262,397 in cyber charter reimbursement savings.
“We appreciate that our legislators in Harrisburg are listening to us and recognizing the importance of increased investment in education,” said Pennridge Superintendent Angelo Berrios.
North Penn
North Penn’s school district and board also discussed the new budget allocations during their Thursday night meeting, hearing an update from CFO Steve Skrocki on the latest state allocations.
The state budget increases North Penn’s basic education subsidy by roughly $1.8 million, roughly 10.7 percent more than the prior year and $1 million over what the district’s 2024-25 budget, adopted in June, had planned based on Shapiro’s February budget address, according to Skrocki. The district’s allocation for special education also increased by roughly $489,000 or 6.7 percent over the prior year, and changes in the state’s cyber school funding formula yield an additional $386,000 for the district.
“We’ll take this: it’s better than nothing,” Skrocki said; “This is one small step, hopefully in the future, we’ll see some additional steps” toward changing and reforming state funding for education.
Districts in Montgomery County received increases in state funding.This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit www.thereporteronline.com.
