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<\/p>\nBETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Bethlehem Area School Board and the district\u2019s administration on Monday discussed withholding some charter school tuition payments amid the state budget impasse.<\/p>\n
Legislators in Harrisburg have yet to pass a budget for the current fiscal year, making it more than two months late. Budget approval was due June 30.<\/p>\n
Though some reports say a state budget deal is imminent, BASD is developing contingency plans in case it must continue operating without state funding in the months ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne particular area of frustration is our payments to charter schools.”<\/p>\n
Jack Silva, Bethlehem Area Superintendent<\/p>\n
State funding accounts for about 30% of the district\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n
BASD Superintendent Jack Silva said at a school board committee meeting Monday there\u2019s \u201ca growing frustration\u201d among district administrators and school directors across the state, \u201cespecially as expenses continue for school districts while state funding hasn\u2019t come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne particular area of frustration is our payments to charter schools,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n
Withholding charter school payments<\/p>\n
Charter schools \u201cdon\u2019t seem to have the issue of waiting and having their funding delayed because it comes from the contributing districts that are still writing the checks,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n
He said his administration could recommend a resolution to the school board as early as next month that would let BASD temporarily withhold 30% of the funds it sends to charter schools that Bethlehem Area students attend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere aren\u2019t a whole lot of tools at our disposal.”<\/p>\n
Jack Silva, Bethlehem Area Superintendent<\/p>\n
The resolution would sunset once a budget is passed and backpay would be sent to the schools at that time.<\/p>\n
The resolution would support the idea that \u201ceverybody has shared sacrifice during a budget impasse,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n
BASD pays $3.5 million to $4 million in charter school tuition each month.<\/p>\n
The potential resolution is an option being discussed by districts throughout the state, Silva said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere aren\u2019t a whole lot of tools at our disposal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Under regular circumstances, the state deducts missed charter school tuition from a school district\u2019s state subsidies.<\/p>\n
But with the budget impasse, the district isn\u2019t getting any subsidies, \u201cso there\u2019s nothing to deduct it out of,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n
Contingency plans<\/p>\n
As a cost-saving measure, school Director Karen Beck Pooley raised the possibility of BASD delaying the fulfillment of various compliance obligations and reporting mandates that come from the state. <\/p>\n
Without state funding, BASD isn’t getting the resources to implement those requirements, Beck Pooley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, [local] taxes are coming in so we\u2019re in a healthy position. Taxes aren\u2019t going to keep coming in past December.\u201d<\/p>\n
BASD Chief Financial Officer Harry Aristakesian<\/p>\n
Additionally, she said she\u2019s \u201cannoyed\u201d by the delay in state funding.<\/p>\n
BASD Chief Financial Officer Harry Aristakesian said if a state budget isn\u2019t passed by October, that\u2019s when the district should start being \u201cworried\u201d about potentially needing to take out loans to cover costs. Securing financing takes a few months, Aristakesian said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, [local] taxes are coming in so we\u2019re in a healthy position,\u201d he said. \u201cTaxes aren\u2019t going to keep coming in past December.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said the district has savings to rely on if necessary.<\/p>\n
Additionally, there\u2019s the potential Bethlehem Area could get $3.5 million when it sells a South Bethlehem property at 315 Columbia St. to Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School for use as a satellite campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to cast a pretty wide net and see what option works best as we evaluate next steps,\u201d Aristakesian said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Will Oliver<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n
The Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School is located at 3300 Chester Ave. in Bethlehem Township.<\/p>\n
BAVTS MOU<\/p>\n
At the same committee meeting, the Bethlehem Area School Board discussed an updated memorandum of understanding for a BAVTS facilities project.<\/p>\n
The MOU clarified the scope of the project to include both renovations at The Factory building, which will serve as the BAVTS satellite campus, and at the technical school\u2019s main campus at 3300 Chester Avenue, Bethlehem Township.<\/p>\n
The updated agreement provides flexibility in how the sending school districts can pay for the project, such as through a lump sum or periodic advance payments.<\/p>\n
In addition to Bethlehem Area, the BAVTS sending districts are Northampton Area and Saucon Valley. <\/p>\n
Bids for the BAVTS facilities project are due to be received by December. Construction work will begin in early 2026 and is slated to be completed by that fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Bethlehem Area School Board and the district\u2019s administration on Monday discussed withholding some charter school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1967,153,1412,155,154,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972],"class_list":["post-2098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-basd","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-area-school-district","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-bethlehem-school-district-charter-school-payments","tag-pennsylvania-state-budget","tag-pennsylvania-state-budget-impasse-and-charter-schools","tag-will-bethlehem-withhold-charter-school-payments","tag-will-schools-withhold-charter-school-payments-over-state-budget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}