By Zorian Edwards, Editor-In-Chief
and Natalie Slee, Broadcast Editor
Disclaimer: This article is meant to give an overview of the situation, expand on the presentation released, and give the public a better understanding of the financial future of the PENNCREST School District.
On May 21, the PENNCREST school board held a financial meeting to discuss possible budget cuts the district can make and alternative options that could impact the budget. You can find the slide presentation used at the meeting and within this article here.
The board will officially vote on a financial budget during their June 11 meeting when upcoming superintendent Shawn Ford takes the position. According to state law, the board must make a decision no later than June 30.
Starting with one of the earlier slides in the presentation, let’s look at PCA (PENNCREST Cyber Academy) vs. outside cyber options. One of the ongoing discussions is how profitable PCA is. This chart shows the difference between PCA and outside cyber options when it comes to education.
Currently PCA has over 150 students enrolled full-time, this number does not account for students who have blended schedules in our buildings for various reasons. PCA has been an affordable and good option for our school district.
“Penncrest Cyber Academy (PCA) has given me flexibility in my schedule. I am not in a brick and border school during school hours,” PCA student Baylie Morris said. “This allows me to flex my schoolwork as needed to the day. I’ve been able to be with my grandparents during ill health while doing homework and taking breaks as needed. My grandfather passed away last June, but last year I could help him on our family farm (he was 79). This allowed me to learn additional skills not taught in the classrooms such as gardening, maintenance on tractors, building repairs, caring for many species of birds (including but not limited to chickens, geese, and Guinea hens), some electrical work, snow removal, and lots about nature in our area. This would not have ever been possible had I been in a regular school. I also did better with grades because I was able to make sure I understood something before moving forward.”
The PENNCREST School Board voted 5-4 for no tax increase on May 13, meaning there will need to be some cuts within the district.
“The proposed cuts would include furloughs for support positions as well: one administrative support person, three building secretaries and three reading aides. The three remaining building secretaries would move from 12-month contracts to nine-month contracts,” The Meadville Tribune said in their article on the same subject.
This slide did cause some confusion during the meeting. “Am I doing everything on this slide?” business manager Kristen Eckart said. “I need the direction of where we’re going. We’ve got to start this process like ASAP if this is what’s happening. If we’re furloughing 19 people, we need to start it so we know who we’re working with in August.”
The discussion of furloughing teachers and staff is a difficult topic for many, especially with the teacher shortage that is plaguing the nation. From a study by Delvin Peck in April 2024, just 12% of teachers are satisfied with their jobs. Meanwhile, more than four in 10 teachers admitted they were likely to leave their job within two years.
“No one likes the thought of furloughing employees, but sometimes it must be done,” board member David Valesky said. “We have to keep our student/teacher ratio in line. Our expenditures have increased almost 10 million in 5 years while enrollment dropped. To be financially responsible to taxpayers, we need to adjust rather than increase spending.”
During the May 13 meeting, multiple items were tabled until the budget is either figured out or the board is ready to come to a decision on them. This leads to things being up in the air.
In the end some board members were not pleased with no tax increase. “I strongly disagree with these cuts, as we should be looking for ways to attract people to the district, not drive them away. These reductions will significantly impact students at all levels and alter the future of PENNCREST,” board member Ryan Styborski said. “This budget passes, the district will face a long and tumultuous road to ensure every student receives a fair and rigorous education that empowers them for a lifetime of learning. This budget will make that task significantly more challenging.”
The board president was happy to clear up why the budget needed to change. Although this decision may not be the will of some, it does not mean it was not a thought-out decision. “The cuts are recommended by the superintendent and the building principals. The teachers’ contract put a big deficit in our budget,” board president Robert Johnston said. “The district got nothing, so we have to work with the administration to bring the budget from a negative to as close to balanced as we can… We should have been making these cuts for years but now it will be more drastic and harder to swallow.”
PENNCREST acknowledges there are ways to cut down on our expenses; here are some options the district is considering for next school year.
What does the community think about this?
“I think the cuts are abhorrent, and an inconceivable way of trying to solve something so crucial to the district as for its functions,” Saegertown alumni, Jameson McIntyre said. “Teachers will be dropped, extracurriculars and sports will somewhat diminish in quality, and so will the education as a whole, and also terms of operability for what students and other faculty members can access in resources. The best way to tackle this situation is to elect people with an open mind to all ideas, and a progressive mindset. There needs to be major change to come back from a situation like this to recover from and assure a better future for upcoming students. Keeping taxes the same, or lowering them, does not ensure a safe future for the district. It ensures stretching of our education resources, lower property values, keeps the state aid low, and creates a dilemma in some families that have work at the district.”
“Honestly, I’d like to know the plan. So we make these cuts then what?” community member Dani Schmidt asked. “The proposal has cut everything bare with a half a million deficit still. So next year inflation will still be an issue, cost will still rise, and we’ve dipped into reserves, sold property, and it’s still not enough. When is the right time to properly fund public education?”
“The board has had many opportunities to control costs over the past decade and they failed miserably,” community member Art Hoffman said. “There is absolutely no logic in spending good money after bad on an underutilized school that needs millions of repairs/improvements. Understand that those ‘grant’ dollars used for some repairs are also tax dollars even though the Board has the notion that it is free money, which is a hallucination. Additionally, the Board (and some teachers) need to also come to accept the fact that Windows-based products are the ‘standard’ in over 80% of all businesses.”
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