The William Penn School District is borrowing money with a $10 million tax revenue anticipation note so it can pass its budget while state funding talks drag on, writes Maddie Hanna for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
William Penn must have a balanced budget in place by the start of the new fiscal year, which began on July 1.
The cash-strapped district took out the loan so it could pass a budget without knowing how much state funding it would receive or what cuts might be needed to keep the budget in balance.
It will have to repay the $10 million loan, along with an additional $100,000 cost, according to school board member Jennifer Hoff.
“That’s a teacher. That’s two safety officers,” Hoff said Tuesday during a news conference hosted by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
William Penn passed a budget June 30 with a tax increase of 3.9 percent, but “we don’t know if that number works,” she said.
Property tax revenue won’t start coming in until August.
The district has already cut the positions of academic interventionists and mental health services, and now its arts and athletic programs are in jeopardy, depending on what happens with the state budget.
Find out more about William Penn’s budget issues in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
