JEFFERSON TWP — While school boards like Knoch’s are preparing for the new school year, they also have had to address the lack of a state budget, and how that could hurt their schools’ finances.

With the Pennsylvania General Assembly now 44 days past its budget deadline, local school districts are facing missed payments from the state.

Knoch School District will not receive state funds for general education funding, special education funding, the social security subsidy, a pupil transportation subsidy and subgrant payments until the budget impasse is resolved.

The school board claimed at its Wednesday, Aug. 13, meeting that schools statewide are missing out on $1.4 billion in basic education funding and $255 million in special education funding for July and August.

Superintendent David Foley said Wednesday evening the district will see local tax revenue come in “pretty quickly” in the near future.

The school’s business manager, Jamie Van Lenten, said she’s “concerned” as districts wait to see what happens with the state budget, but currently is focused on waiting for that local revenue to come in.

“As soon as the local revenue starts coming in, we’ll be good on the revenue side for August, September, October,” Van Lenten said. “After that, that’s when we would have major concerns if there was no funding coming in then.”

Van Lenten said banks have reached out to the school about possible loans while the impasse continues.

For 2025-26, Knoch School District expects roughly $17.3 million in revenue (out of $39.3 million) to come from state sources.

The topic of the state budget impasse as come up recently at school board meetings in Butler County.

Seneca Valley board president Eric DiTullio said at the board’s Aug. 4 work session he had recently talked to State Treasurer Stacy Garrity about what would happen if the budget impasse stretches out. At Freeport’s Aug. 6 meeting, superintendent Ian Magness criticized state legislators for not coming to a compromise on the budget.

“There are districts right now, as we speak, probably in board meetings like this, that are approving TANs, tax anticipation notes, because they don’t have the fund balance to simply make payroll, because we don’t have a state budget. They’re going out and borrowing money, taxpayer dollars, to pay interest on that until we get a budget. This is insanity, and it’s unacceptable,” Magness said.

For the time being, schools will see local tax revenue start to trickle in. But the most recent state budget reports said Wednesday the Democratic-led House of Representatives voted down bills passed by the Republican-led Senate that would keep the budget flat for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

“I know money’s coming in this month; as long as that continues we’ll be strong and should be OK through October. After that, we’d worry,” Van Lenten said.