SV Super commends board directors for School Board Recognition Month, calls for action on school funding
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Shenandoah Valley Superintendent Brian Waite speaks during his Superintendent's Report on August 6, 2020.
SHENANDOAH – Shenandoah Valley Superintendent Brian Waite commended the members of the district’s Board of Education at January’s regular meeting and continued to call for action for fair school funding.
Waite made the statements in his report at the meeting on Jan. 17.
January is School Board Director Recognition Month, and he thanked the board members for their service to the community.
“You continue to maintain fiscal responsibility to our stakeholders while ensuring we provide programming to our students,” Waite said. “Over the past few years you have supported programs for our ESL students, music and physical education in our elementary, dual enrollment and AP courses in our secondary, just to name a few.”
“You have been able to support student programming, even as an underfunded district by approximately $10,000 per student or almost $12 Million per year,” Waite added. “You had the forethought to be part of the fair funding lawsuit to help not only the students of the Shenandoah Valley School District but students across the state.”
Waite spoke about the proposed target adequate funding for public schools, released by the Basic Education Funding Commission.
“We applaud the efforts of the commission for not only recognizing the funding gaps for nearly 80% of public schools in Pennsylvania but also developing a plan that, if enacted, would be transformative for students,” Waite said. “Although the plan is not perfect and would take over seven years to bridge the funding gaps, the plan would certainly minimize the collateral damage the Shenandoah Valley School District has to undertake every budget cycle since the district is currently underfunded by $10,000 per student or almost $12 Million per year.”
He called on Governor Josh Shapiro to “make the commission’s report reality” in his budget, “including a substantial first year commitment along with firm funding targets year-by year so not only Shenandoah Valley but districts across the state of Pennsylvania can plan accordingly.”
“The time for action is now,” Waite said, “and we hope legislators recognize their constitutional duty to ensure public school students receive a thorough and efficient education.”
The majority report adopted by the commission calls for more than $5 Billion in additional funding to close the gap between wealthy and poor districts. The report was adopted by an 8-7 vote along party lines.
Schuylkill County’s State Senator, David G. Argall (R-29) voted against the report. He had a first-hand look at Shenandoah Valley and its struggles in December.
Argall instead backed a report pushed by the Republican party, which the Sentinel’s news partners at SpotlightPA said in a recent article did not offer a specific dollar amount for a funding shift, but, like the Democrats’ plan, would adjust the funding formula “to protect shrinking and poor districts from big funding shifts.”
The Democrats’ report cited Hazleton Area falling off a “cliff” regarding a concentrated poverty factor which provides additional weight in the formula if a district is at or above 30%.
Hazleton dropped from 31.5% to 27.6% between 2016/17 and 2017/18 and lost 16.5% of its formula share of funding because of it.
“It is difficult to argue that Hazleton Area SD’s needs fundamentally changed when its acute poverty percentage dropped from 31.5% to 27.6%,” the report says.
The report also noted the volatility in Mahanoy Area’s percentage, which jumped from 25.6% in 2021/22 to 36.8% the next year, and back down to 24.3% in 2023/24.
The Republicans’ report also called for another state-led push to consolidate school districts, like those in the midcentury that created the Mahanoy Area, North Schuylkill, and Hazleton Area school districts that we know today. Prior to those pushes, nearly every municipality in northern Schuylkill County operated its own independent school district, generally with its own high school and primary schools.
Only Shenandoah and West Mahanoy Township survived those pushes as independent districts, with those two merging to create Shenandoah Valley in the late 60s on their own accord.
The Republican plan also called for creating a taxpayer-funded voucher program to cover private school tuition for students in public districts with low test scores.
There are no Catholic or non-religious private schools within the Sentinel‘s primary coverage area, though Shenandoah Valley students would qualify for a voucher.
The only private school in the area is the Shenandoah Christian School, a Mennonite school serving under ten students out of Dr. James Hu’s former office at Centre and Chestnut.
The nearest private high schools are in Hometown, Pottsville, Freeland, and near Shamokin.
Argall, on the subject in his email newsletter earlier this month, again echoed his stance on school property taxes.
“Hundreds of people from across Pennsylvania asked us to either eliminate or significantly change our unfair and archaic school property tax system,” Argall said. “To me, that is the most important piece of the education funding puzzle.”
“The issues before the commission were wicked problems – problems with multiple conflicting definitions and no clear solutions,” Argall added. “This debate will continue as the Senate and House approach the 2024-25 state budget process.
A key change proposed in the Democrats’ report is a $955 million “tax equity supplement” which would support districts which cannot make up funding gaps through tax increases.
Shenandoah Valley would receive $1.1 Million through that supplement, the largest in Schuylkill County by far, with Mahanoy Area receiving $755k, Minersville receiving $679k, Pottsville receiving $168k,and North Schuylkill receiving $144k. No other district based in Schuylkill County would receive a supplement, nor would Mount Carmel, Southern Columbia, or Hazleton.
The Shenandoah Sentinel was the ONLY local news source at any Shenandoah Valley School Board meeting in January and has been the ONLY free-to-read news source in Schuylkill County covering the fair funding lawsuit. If you find value in our reporting and in knowing what YOUR local elected leaders are doing, PLEASE consider contributing to our efforts via Patreon.
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