Aug 25, 2015 3 min read

While the start of the new school year has most parents jumping for joy, 500 school districts across the state are anxiously awaiting the arrival of state funds.

School officials were hoping they wouldn’t have to start the 2015-16 year without a state budget in place, but they are starting to wonder how long their budgets can last with classes beginning Monday for many districts in Washington and Greene counties.

Jody Nepa, business manager for Bethlehem-Center School District, said he had to borrow $2 million right off the bat.

“We don’t have a fund balance,” he said. “Our (tax) assessment is one of the lowest.”

Nepa said the district normally has to borrow some money each year, but this was the largest tax-anticipation note the district has ever had.

“I don’t know how long we can last,” Nepa said. “It depends on how far this standoff goes.”

Pennsylvania is nearly two months into its new fiscal year without the new year’s spending plan in place. On June 30, Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed the GOP’s entire $30.2 billion, no-new-taxes budget. Wolf’s $31.6 billion plan has stalled in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

Other districts throughout the area said their fund balances will allow them to operate without concern until October. But if they are forced to make it until then without state assistance, many said they’ll have to explore other options, such as holding bills.

Jamie O’Donnell, business manager for Burgettstown School District, said incoming property tax money is keeping her district afloat.

“If not, we wouldn’t make payroll,” she said. “We can’t go on like this, and a lot of schools are in the same boat.”

O’Donnell called the situation “frustrating.”

“It’s not fair that we have to pass our budgets at the end of June and they can take their good old time.”

Central Greene Superintendent Brian Uplinger said his district is not immediately concerned, and that the district’s fund balance could carry them to December. Uplinger said the district took precautions constructing its budget, knowing that a new governor would be in place.

“We budgeted very conservatively,” he said. “There always seems to be issues.”

Had the district not taken precautions, Uplinger said the situation would have been very different.

“We would be borrowing money,” he said.

Republican lawmakers recently tried to force a piece-by-piece override votes of Wolf’s veto, but the two sides remain in gridlock.

Uplinger hopes lawmakers will put aside their differences and make funding available soon. He also hopes to see more money dedicated to special-needs students and education, and a fix to the pension crisis.

“This is about the children, not who can scream the loudest,” Uplinger said. “There is an obligation for the state to provide funding. Students are suffering. They need to get the money out to the districts.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.