BUFFALO TWP — By Thursday, Sept. 4, all school districts in Butler County will have started their school year — with no state budget.

Butler’s nine public districts have missed out on state funds since the Pennsylvania General Assembly blew past its June 30 budget deadline.

Up to this point, the Republican-led state Senate and the Democrat-led House of Representatives have failed to negotiate a state budget holding up millions of dollars to local school districts.

“I feel like we’re going to be good, but if this goes on for months and months, then everybody’s not going to be in a good place,” Freeport superintendent Ian Magness said at the school board’s Sept. 3 meeting.

Over the past two months, local school boards have provided updates on the lack of state funds — what it means for the district and how they’re affected.

Knoch’s school board said at its Aug. 13 meeting local real estate tax revenue received between August and October will help offset the delay in state funding for the time being. But it said the delay in “critical funding streams” could affect cash flow, planning and program implementation in weeks leading up to the school year.

The district still expressed concern over what would happen if the state budget impasse drags on for several more months.

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

The budget impasse came up at a Mars Area School District board meeting in July, when business manager Debbie Brandstetter said her district would have to rely on savings in a CD account.

“We can pull from that if we need to. So we’d be good for the next several months, providing they can pass a budget,” Brandstetter said July 24. “We’re in a position where it’s not going to impact us in the short term. But if it were to drag on, then that would really be an issue.”

Magness said Wednesday night his district will be able to cover areas like payroll for the next several months, but beyond that, it’s hard to say.

“There are definitely schools that have smaller fund balances so that when those dollars run out into the school year, they’re going to have to take out loans,” Magness said. “We’re in a good position. We’ve always tried to maintain our fund balance so that we’ve got at least three months in payroll, that’s always seemed to be a good measure.”