When his counterparts describe handing out iPads to students, Joseph Otto just tunes out the conversation.

Otto is chief operations officer of the William Penn School District in Delaware County, just across Cobbs Creek from Southwest Philadelphia. His district limps along from year to year by paring back services and staff and putting off investments in books, technology, and other classroom needs. The local school board is loath to raise taxes any higher because the district’s residents already shoulder some of the highest tax burdens in the region.

“IPads are not even an option for us,” said Otto.

“We do nothing extra. We’re just trying to survive.”

Like the School District of Philadelphia, numerous districts in the region and across the state are struggling to make up for shortfalls in state funding, anemic local revenues, and hefty payouts to charter schools.

Especially hard hit are economically distressed communities in the aging suburbs abutting Philadelphia as well as urban hubs like Chester, Upper Darby, Norristown, and Pottstown, where low-cost housing draws families unable to afford pricier homes in the suburbs.

District budgets took a double hit a couple of years back when $4 billion in federal stimulus money distributed over three years dried up and the Corbett administration flatlined state aid to local schools. The resulting cuts in state aid impacted virtually all of the state’s 500 school districts, but those in high-poverty and less affluent areas were hit hardest, according to Jim Buckheit, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA).

Solidly middle-class districts had received less state aid and lost less in real dollars.

“When the cuts happened, they fell disproportionately on the districts” that were already struggling, Buckheit said.

Sharing the shortfall

The advocacy group Public Citizens for Children and Youth recently released The Bottom Line is Children: Public Education in Montgomery County. The report, the first in a series that looks at the state of public education in each of Philadelphia’s suburban counties, reveals that Montgomery County’s 21 school districts experienced a shortfall of $34 million over fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12 for lack of a state funding formula. The lion’s share of those funds would have gone to Pottstown, Norristown, and a few other cash-strapped districts.

“In spite of the relative wealth of the county, every district has less state money than in 2010,” said Donna Cooper, PCCY’s executive director.

The shortfall for the 15 districts in Delaware County was about $45 million for that time period, according to PCCY. The 13 districts in Bucks County sustained a $24 million setback, and the 21 districts in Chester County lost a combined $42 million in state funding.

PCCY looked at funding, per-pupil spending, academic achievement, and other indicators for Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. The organization is releasing four “Bottom Line County Reports” to bring the public up to date on key education issues.

Across the last three budget cycles, districts have pulled the reins on spending.

According to Buckheit, whose group annually surveys local school officials, numerous districts dug into fund balances, then went after what he characterized as “low-hanging fruit, the relatively easy things” – extracurricular activities, field trips, then summer school and afterschool tutoring, no matter the educational value of such programs.

District administrators also reported cuts to paraprofessionals, including classroom, playground and bus aides. Professional staff cutbacks were achieved through attrition when a staffer resigned or retired.

Analyses of state jobs data show that about 20,000 school employees – half of them teachers – have been either furloughed or not replaced over the last three years.

Pennsylvania “had 130,000 teachers, but we’re below 120,000 now,” Buckheit noted.

“In reality, you can see what schools look like, and it’s very different from three years ago. There are fewer nurses, fewer guidance counselors … and districts have lost … a lot of administration positions – the people who deal with discipline and provide extra support,” said Buckheit.

William Penn’s plight is a case in point.

Two years ago, after $4 million in federal stimulus money ran out, the district used half its $5 million reserve fund to balance its budget and cut 60 positions from its professional staff. Plus, “we’ve put off the buying of books and supplies … and contracted out maintenance,” said Otto. But “we’ve run out of areas to cut.”

And one expense has risen steeply. The district will pay out nearly $5 million to Chester Community Charter School and several virtual charter schools, a sum that takes a big bite out of its $85 million budget.

The school board has not raised taxes in recent years, with good reason. The tax rates for schools and local services are some of the highest in the region for the six little towns – Lans-downe, East Lansdowne, Darby, Aldan, Yeadon, and Colwyn – that make up the district adjacent to Philadelphia.

Tax rates in those towns are exponentially higher than nearby prospering suburban communities.

The Philadelphia Public School Notebook – December 3, 2013 – Read article online