BETHLEHEM, Pa. (WFMZ) — School districts across Pennsylvania will finally receive money from the state. Those in the Lehigh Valley tell us they’re relieved.
“The message right now is gratitude,” said Supt. Dr. Jack Silva of Bethlehem Area School District.
30% of BASD’s $370 million operating budget comes from the state.
“We’ve had to hold back on a few things. We lost a little bit of interest income that we would’ve had in the bank but generally we were able to pull the strings in a little bit tighter and make do. Luckily, Bethlehem was not in the situation as some other school districts that were thinking about having to spend down some reserves or take out a loan,” Silva stated.
Earlier in the school year, the district cut 30% of funding to charter schools in an effort to save money.
“We were able to live on our first local tax collection and get through the four months of the impasse. We were okay until December, January. But I’m glad there’s a budget,” Silva said.
Meanwhile, down the road at Allentown School District, day-to-day operations can return to normal.
“Now we’re able to lift some of our financial restraints that we had in place, cost-saving measures. We tried to cut down on any unnecessary overtime, we put a halt on hiring certain staff. The primary was to curtail any sort of unnecessary spending, any unnecessary travel and things of that nature,” said Jeff Cuff, Interim CFO at ASD.
Cuff tells us local taxes helped fund the gaps in the district’s budget.
“We had to curtail and we had to make some adjustments until the budget was released,” Cuff stated.
Both districts expect to see their cut from the state over the next few days.