Burgettstown Schools Vote To Borrow $4M To Continue Operating During Budget Impasse

BURGETTSTOWN (KDKA) -- Burgettstown Area School District voted on Monday to borrow $4 million so it can continue to operate in the midst of the state budget impasse.

The alternative would have been to shut down district schools until Feb. 1.

Superintendent Dr. James Walsh told KDKA's Kym Gable, "I can't believe we are here four days before Christmas to borrow money to keep doing this. If the legislature had done what they needed to do, we wouldn't be here tonight."

The district would not close on the loan until Jan. 10. If legislators pass a budget prior to that, the loan would not be necessary.

The failure of the state House of Representatives to pass a budget compromise this weekend was a shock to Burgettstown School's superintendent Dr. Jim Walsh.

"Enormously disappointed," Walsh told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Monday. "When we last talked (Dec. 9), I was cautiously optimistic that they would work out the differences and the framework would have been carried through to the House, and we would be sitting on an approved budget now and this would be a Merry Christmas for all."

But with House Republicans unable to agree with Senate Republicans on the compromise budget already approved by the Senate and Governor, the House has put school districts between a rock and a hard place.

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"We're going to affect people, we're going to affect students, we're going to affect parents, we're going to affect a whole lot of things," says Tom Repole, president of the Burgettstown School Board.

With 55 percent of its funding cut off by legislative gridlock, Burgettstown -- like many other school districts -- is running out of money.

The board met Monday night to plan the next step.

It was a really tough decision for the Burgettstown School Board - the choice between closing the schools to their children or borrowing money and having to ultimately raise taxes on local residents.

Neither option is a good one. Ultimately, the board voted to borrow the $4 million.

Borrowing the money will get them through the next two months with $10,000 in closing costs, said Repole. "We're going to pay roughly $200 a day in interest, and there's going to be a large payment to pay it back, and we don't have any money to pay it back."

Delano: "If you borrow money, will you have to raise local property taxes?"
Repole: "Yes."

The alternative was shutting down schools, laying off teachers and staff, knowing they will be paid with interest later on once a state budget is approved.

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Walsh says, as an educator, he could not recommend closing school.

"That's the most important thing -- that there are real kids at the very end of that budget," he said.

But Repole insists, "Closing is on top of the list. It's one of the ones we're going to look at very closely with some discussion, but it's there."

Before the vote, Burgettstown would have run out of money in 10 days.

Repole doesn't think legislators care about the position they've put schools in.

"As close as they were over the weekend and then it completely fell apart, I have no confidence in them. No I don't. Not now," he said.

What really surprises Burgettstown school officials is that not a single one of their state legislators has been in touch with them over this budget debacle, leaving open the question of whether any state legislators are talking to their local school officials.

Delano: "No state representative has called you?"
Walsh: "No."
Delano: "No one has asked you what it means to your school district?"
Walsh: "No."
Delano: "There's been no contact at all?"
Walsh: "No."
Delano: "Shocking?"
Walsh: "Yes, but you hold hope."

Similar questions were posed to School Board president Repole.

Delano: "They haven't picked up the phone..."
Repole: "No, no."
Delano: "…and said, Mr. Repole, how can I help Burgettstown?"
Repole: "No, no. I haven't. No."
Delano: "They haven't asked for your advice on the budget?"
Repole: "No. I'm still waiting for that question."

Instead, the House is planning to pass a stop-gap budget that Senate Republicans, Democrats, and the governor reject as a gimmick -- and then go home until January.

"I'm not sure that going home shows us any resolution or any effort on their part to make this right for the kids in Pennsylvania," adds Walsh.

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