Red dead ahead
BUTLER TWP — The Butler School District will run out of money in June because of the state budget impasse, it was announced at Monday’s board meeting.
By the end of June, the district will have a deficit of more than $330,000, according to Deborah Brandstetter, director of business services.
The district is not scheduled to receive debt service reimbursement and basic education payments from the state. Those payments would normally be roughly $5.2 million in April and $6.5 million in June, Brandstetter said.
Previously, the board had approved a $16 million line-of-credit as a tax revenue anticipation note from First National Bank. While that has not yet been used, it expires by the end of June, Brandstetter said.
Brandstetter said she will look at extending that line of credit, effective July 1, should the state budget impasse continue.
The district received $19.4 million in January from the state, but its 2015-16 operating budget is $100.7 million.
Superintendent Dale Lumley said he does not anticipate a state budget to pass before the April 26 primary election, and board member Bill Halle said some projections suggest that a state budget will not pass until November, when the general election is held.
However, Republican lawmakers in Harrisburg say they’ll advance budget legislation this week that they hope will end the eight-month-old partisan budget gridlock.
Lawmakers said they’ll unveil details today and expect to put a bill on Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk Wednesday.
Billions of dollars remain in limbo, as schools borrow to stay open and Penn State threatens to shut down its agricultural extension offices.
Republicans say their bill doesn’t require a tax increase to balance, and will deliver half the public school increase, $200 million, that Wolf had sought. Wolf’s office calls it “irresponsible and unbalanced.”
A bipartisan deal collapsed in December after House GOP leaders pulled support for it. That deal involved a $1 billion-plus tax increase that Wolf had sought to narrow a deficit and begin wiping out funding cuts to public schools.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
