THE ISSUE<\/p>\n
\u201cSchool District of Lancaster officials proposed millions of dollars in budget cuts and hired an independent auditor Tuesday following the discovery of a $9.6 million deficit left over from the 2024-25 fiscal year,\u201d LNP | LancasterOnline reported Feb. 25<\/a>. The budget cuts and auditor were necessary because, as this newspaper reported in early February, the district \u201cunknowingly spent nearly $10 million it did not have during the 2024-25 school year, and administrators say they suspect an accounting error in calculating salaries and benefits was a major cause of the overspend.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearly everyone has overspent at one point or another.<\/p>\n Maybe on holiday gifts. Or on vacation splurges. Or while still learning how to balance a checkbook.<\/p>\n But how does a school district unknowingly spend nearly $10 million it doesn\u2019t have? How is that even possible?<\/p>\n As LNP | LancasterOnline reported, the School District of Lancaster board approved \u201cpaying up to $7,500 to a consulting service of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials to audit the district and provide recommendations for how to better manage its finances.\u201d Auditors are to present a report is about a month.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s become clear that we must strengthen accuracy and reliability of our financial processes,\u201d Superintendent Keith Miles said.<\/p>\n The year is young but that might be a contender for the understatement of 2026.<\/p>\n It\u2019s become clear all right.<\/p>\n But not much else has.<\/p>\n The district has a chief financial and operations officer, as well as a director of finance. Its superintendent led a public school district previously \u2014 albeit a somewhat smaller one \u2014 and also served as an assistant superintendent, so he\u2019s surely familiar with school budgets. Its chief human resources officer presumably knows how many employees the district has.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, 83 full-time employees were left out of the 2024-25 budget, to the tune of $8.1 million in salary and benefits.<\/p>\n Eighty-three full-timers.<\/p>\n The people overseeing the school district\u2019s finances are educators and administrators. Their mantra should be \u2014 and not just to students, but to themselves \u2014 \u201ccheck your work.\u201d<\/p>\n This monumental screwup came to public light at a Feb. 3 school board meeting when, as LNP | LancasterOnline reported,<\/a> board member Dave Parry pointed<\/a> to a shortfall identified in the district\u2019s 2025 fiscal year audit by the accountancy firm CliftonLarsonAllen.<\/p>\n Thank goodness for audits.<\/p>\n District officials said the oversight might have been due to faulty software. And sure, it might have been. But 1) technology is always a convenient scapegoat; 2) software is only as good as the data humans put into it; and 3) that\u2019s why it\u2019s essential to check your work.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also this: As LNP | LancasterOnline reported, \u201cThe district also did not sufficiently budget for expenses in three key areas: cyber charter tuition, transportation, and building repairs and maintenance, the combined expenses of which came in nearly $5 million over budget, according to (a district) report.<\/p>\n \u201cIn total, the district concluded the 2025 fiscal year with an operational deficit of $15.3 million. The district drew down the reserves in its fund balance to reduce that deficit to $9.6 million.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019ve argued<\/a> for years for increased funding<\/a> for the historically underfunded<\/a> School District of Lancaster. We\u2019re now deeply frustrated that the students whose cause we\u2019ve championed will suffer because of this egregious error.<\/p>\n To remedy the mistake, the district proposes refinancing $5 million of its $18 million in debt, which, as this newspaper noted, \u201cwould cost the district an extra $1.7 million over the next decade but would free up funds in the near term.\u201d<\/p>\n The district also proposes to take $1 million of expenses from its capital reserve fund.<\/p>\n Other proposed measures, amounting to $2.2 million: pruning department budgets, delaying some community events, suspending elementary summer school enrichment programs this year and deferring minor building repairs. The district\u2019s annual Winter Fest community gathering<\/a> \u2014 usually a bright spot on the dreary winter calendar for kids and their families \u2014 would be suspended.<\/p>\n Beyond our concerns about the costs of debt refinancing, we\u2019re dismayed by the proposed suspension of elementary summer school enrichment programs. According to the district\u2019s website, 88.4% of its 10,000-plus students are economically disadvantaged. Low-income households don\u2019t have money for museum trips, pricey vacations or theater or art or music or science camps. School district summer enrichment programs help to fill the gap.<\/p>\n And the cuts that have been proposed don\u2019t suffice to remedy the district\u2019s shortfall. As LNP | LancasterOnline reported, they only account for $8.2 million of the $9.6 million the district needs to make up. Administrators will present recommendations for the remaining $1.4 million sometime in March.<\/p>\n February was a tough month for the School District of Lancaster. A nonverbal 11-year-old boy with autism wandered away from Fulton Elementary Schoo<\/a>l and was found walking several blocks away by, thankfully, a gentleman who went on Facebook Live in hopes of identifying the child\u2019s parents. Two district employees were placed on administrative leave<\/a> and educators who teach autistic students received staff training.<\/p>\n