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MILL HALL -- Members of the Keystone Central School District Board of Directors are encouraging residents to contact their legislators to ensure roughly $4 million in state funding is sent to the district.
Board member Butch Knauff spoke on the topic during the board's work session recently.
Knauff noted when Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's budget in August, it included a 10 percent increase in allocation toward Level Up Funding.
"This budget is still missing parts of its enabling legislation, which means that over $100,000,000 -- which was budgeted and committed to our schools -- is being held hostage by our legislators in a fight with Gov. Shapiro," Knauff said.
The Level Up Funding was created in an attempt to reform the Pennsylvania School Funding System, something school administrators both locally and across the Commonwealth have been attempting to accomplish.
In February, the Commonwealth Court determined the current funding system was unconstitutional.
"This decision decided that public schools in Pennsylvania are underfunded by an astonishing amount of over $6.2 million. This underfunding places the majority of the burden of the cost of education on the property owners of our school district," Knauff said.
According to national statistics, Pennsylvania ranks 45th in the share of education funding.
Knauff noted some school districts in the state with "a robust local tax base" are able to raise the proper funds for its needs.
"Other districts -- like Keystone Central -- cannot raise enough money at the local level, even with a very high local tax effort," he said. "The purpose of the Level Up Funding is to help do away with the inequitable system of funding by the Commonwealth's budget, to close the gap between the wealthiest and poorest districts."
Knauff noted this current system means "students in districts with the greatest needs are severely short changed."
"We need our legislators to level the playing field and free up this (funding) by enacting code bills, which are typically passed alongside the main budget," he continued. "These code bills are necessary to specify how certain funds are spent."
According to Knauff, Keystone Central has been pledged about $4 million in Level Up Funding.
Superintendent Dr. Jacquelyn Martin noted the state encouraged the district to include this money in its budgeting process.
"We were told to budget for Level Up Funding by the state," Martin said. "It (funding) is there, it has not been released yet. That puts a huge strain on our district to make up that $4.5 million in revisions... or impact programing."
Martin encouraged the board to consider drafting a resolution and placing it for consideration at its voting session on Thursday, Nov. 9.
"Our legislators need to hear from this board," she said.
Knauff also stressed again that contacting local legislators -- such as State Representatives Stephanie Borowicz and Paul Takac and State Senator Cris Dush -- could help in getting this funding to the district.
"Demand that they pass the code bills required to release the Level Up Funding," Knauff said.
Martin noted this funding was a step in the right direction in combating the unbalanced distribution of funding to public education.
"Adding Level Up Funding is a good start to deal with unfair funding in the state," she said. "But there's still more to be done."