PA withholds payments to school districts
Harrisburg's budget impasse begins to affect Pennsylvania's school districts today.
Harrisburg's budget impasse begins to affect Pennsylvania's school districts today.
The state announced this afternoon that it will not give school districts their first scheduled payment of more than $416 million, which was scheduled to go out today.
No school district – not even the most cash-strapped - will receive money, officials said.
"We cannot legally pay anybody if we don't have a budget in place," said Michael Race, education department spokesman.
The subsidy payments, which go out monthly, would have been the first major payments of the 2009-10 fiscal year that began on July 1. Most districts will begin the school year within the next three to four weeks, state officials said.
The next monthly subsidy payment is scheduled for Aug. 27, but state officials said that also could be impacted because it takes about two weeks to authorize payments after a budget is enacted. The August subsidy payments are even larger – a total of more than $876 million.
The subsidy payments include appropriations for basic and special education funding, charter school reimbursement and pupil transportation and other areas.
"The impact of missed subsidy payments will undoubtedly vary from district to district, depending upon the contingency plans each has in place, but obviously any missed payments represent a fiscal hurdle for those districts," Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said in a prepared statement.
Some school districts have larger reserves and may be able to cope more easily, Race said.
Philadelphia School District officials could not comment immediately.
