William Penn School District could eliminate arts, athletics programs

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The William Penn School District is preparing to levy a 5.9% property tax hike and slash a number of positions amid an ongoing budget crisis.

The district is hanging onto hope Pennsylvania implements cyber charter school reform, which would reduce expenditures by $2.2 million, and dishes out an additional $3 million in recommended adequacy funding.

If either of these actions fail, the district asserts it will be forced to reduce transportation expenses and eliminate art, athletics and music programs next school year.

“This is not something that I want to do,” Superintendent Eric Becoats said. “This is something that I have to do in order to ensure that our district remains solvent. We don’t really have much of a choice.”

At a recent preliminary budget presentation, officials said they are also planning to eliminate nearly a dozen central office positions, get rid of all mental health support staff, initiate a hiring freeze, raise taxes and remove academic interventionists from elementary schools.

“With this budget as it stands right now, we will be hard pressed to meet the needs of every child in this district,” Becoats said.

The district educates about 4,500 students from the boroughs of Aldan, Colwyn, Darby, East Lansdowne, Lansdowne and Yeadon. A majority of William Penn’s students are considered economically disadvantaged. The district was one of six that successfully sued Pennsylvania over its unconstitutional funding model.

Yet, William Penn entered budget planning season staring down the barrel of a multi-million deficit just years removed from the landmark decision. Administrators pointed to a growth in benefits and salaries, charter school tuition costs and debt service payments as the major causes of ballooning expenditures.

However, Becoats said lack of school funding is central to the issue. He asserted William Penn is owed $28 million in adequacy gap dollars, which it will receive over a period of nine years as part of a statewide funding plan. The first installment already went out. Advocates have long warned the slow funding boosts are failing to even keep pace with inflation.

“We don’t have nine years to wait for what’s owed to our students,” Becoats said. “This district sued the state before I was the superintendent. It took 10 years to get a verdict. Now somebody is telling us we have to wait another nine years — that’s almost 20 years.”

The district has been able to close some of the gap, but the solution so far has been less than palatable. William Penn Education Association President Andrea Fink said the teacher’s union is “disheartened” to lose members and “devastated” to hear of more possible cuts that could affect student outcomes.

“Being underfunded for years has taken a toll on our students and our community and their success,” Fink said. “Our students deserve the best resources and they deserve teachers that have those resources as well. I think without those things, the progress that we made is going to, perhaps, slow because of the deficits.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget calls for an additional $526 million for Pennsylvania’s poorest schools. State legislators have until June 30 to negotiate an agreed-upon budget.

With roughly a month before the deadline, schools like William Penn are watching intently. The future is on the line.

“It’s our livelihood,” Fink said. “We love working for the William Penn School District. We care about our students and the community and the uncertainty for a lot of my members is really weighing on them.”