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\nThe Keystone Central School District Board of Directors are pictured during its voting session on Thursday night, where it approved a proposed $94 million budget with no tax increase. The board will formally adopt a budget during its meeting in June.<\/p>\n
MILL HALL \u2014 As the Keystone Central School District Board of Directors continued its budget discussions in May, many of its members referenced the potential for the district to enter into receivership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education due to its projected deficit and increased costs.<\/p>\n
But what is receivership and how close is the district to being placed under its purview?<\/p>\n
According to a representative of PDE, KCSD isn\u2019t there yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cPDE has not identified the Keystone Central School District as being a financially distressed school district,\u201d Erin James, PDE press secretary told The Express.<\/p>\n
The discussion surrounding receivership and the district\u2019s financial woes was a major topic at the board\u2019s work and voting session in May.<\/p>\n
During its voting session, the board voted 8-1 to approve a proposed $94 million budget for 2026-2027 with no tax increase included. Board member Dr. Bill Baldino voted against the measure.<\/p>\n
It was noted by Superintendent Dr. Francis Redmon the budget presented came after KCSD\u2019s Business Manager Joni MacIntyre was directed by the finance committee to construct it with no tax increase. Redmon said, however, the board could elect to change it prior to final adoption on Thursday, June 18.<\/p>\n
Many board members expressed concerns about the proposed budget at its voting session on May 14, with receivership being brought up more than once.<\/p>\n
The Express contacted PDE following the meeting to learn more about receivership and its processes regarding districts which are identified to be in financial crisis.<\/p>\n
James said the Pennsylvania School Code identifies specific conditions school districts would need to enter into either financial watch or financial recovery. She noted PDE uses an Early Warning System to identify districts at risk of financial instability and provides technical assistance.<\/p>\n
\u201cPDE uses many sources of financial and other data to analyze a school district\u2019s financial health and make these determinations,\u201d James said. \u201cFor example, an initial analysis would consider a school district\u2019s fund balance ratio, its borrowing base capacity and its debt ratio, among other factors.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the Keystone Central School District moves ahead with its proposed budget, the district would be facing a roughly $3.6 million deficit, pulling from its fund balance and reducing it to about $100,000 going into the 2027-2028 fiscal year.<\/p>\n
It has been noted by MacIntyre during various budget presentations, PDE prefers a healthy unassigned fund balance to be about 7 to 8 percent of a district\u2019s General Fund Balance.<\/p>\n
James told The Express there are other factors that may be analyzed in determining whether or not a district could fall under financial watch or financial recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther analysis may consider community market values, existing property tax burden on the community, the Act 47 status of political subdivisions within the district, a cash flow analysis and more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
When a district is determined to fit the criteria for financial watch, James said PDE will offer training and technical assistance. According to PDE\u2019s School District Financial Recovery Early Warning System documents on its website, if this were to occur it would notify the district\u2019s superintendent, board president and solicitor.<\/p>\n
James said receivership is considered the \u201cmost severe oversight of a school district\u201d with PDE typically identifying districts in either moderate or severe financial recovery status.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe districts in financial recovery status that meet certain conditions operate under the direction of a receiver,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
According to PDE\u2019s website, a receiver could be appointed by the Court of Common Pleas via petition if:<\/p>\n
\u2014 The school board rejects the Chief Recovery Officer\u2019s (CRO) Financial Recovery Plan.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The school board does not comply with directives issued by the CRO.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The school board does not satisfy the objectives in the Financial Recovery Plan during a period of time after its designation of financial recovery is terminated.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In certain instances, related to severe financial recovery school districts, the school board votes to move to receivership.<\/p>\n
The receiver could be the current CRO but, if another is appointed, the CRO would operate as an advisor for the receiver.<\/p>\n
The receiver then would implement PDE\u2019s Financial Recovery Plan.<\/p>\n
PDE\u2019s website notes a receivership is set to expire three years after initial appointment, but the PDE secretary may petition for an extension.<\/p>\n
After the district exits receivership, the school board would resume full control.<\/p>\n
At this time, PDE has identified four school districts in Financial Recovery Status: <\/p>\n
\u2014 Chester-Upland School District in Dauphin County.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Duquesne City School District in Allegheny County.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Sto-Rox School District in Allegheny County.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Steelton-Highspire School District in Dauphin County.<\/p>\n
PDE currently has three districts under Financial Watch Status:<\/p>\n
\u2014 Aliquippa School District in Beaver County.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Reading School District in Berks County.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Wilkinsburg Borough School District in Allegheny County.<\/p>\n
The length of time a district can be in receivership may vary, though only one has officially exited the program.<\/p>\n
According to a press release from Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s office, Harrisburg City School District was the first, and only, district to have its receivership end on June 17, 2025.<\/p>\n
The district entered Financial Recovery in December 2012 and entered Receivership in June 2019.<\/p>\n
The release noted the district entered into receivership in 2022. With the three-year term up, the school board was handed back control of the district\u2019s financial decision-making.<\/p>\n
Harrisburg City School District continues to be monitored under Financial Watch by PDE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOTO PROVIDED The Keystone Central School District Board of Directors are pictured during its voting session on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,983,3,452,453,288894],"class_list":["post-659920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-what-does-receivership-mean-breaking-down-a-repeat-topic-for-keystone-central-board"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}