Will the financially strapped Allentown School District be taken over by the state? [View all]
Like clockwork, every spring the Allentown School District grapples with a large deficit and worries that teachers will lose their jobs, taxpayers will take the brunt and the region’s most vulnerable students will be left behind.
But this year, as the district is up against a June 30 deadline to figure out how to close a $7.6 million hole in the current budget and a $28 million deficit for 2019-20, a new cloud hovers: the possibility of a state takeover.
The topic came up during two meetings last month. District solicitor John Freund speculated at one that if the district didn’t take out a $10 million loan to pay its bills, that could expedite state oversight.
Freund believes the district could at the very least end up on “watch status” — a step taken before state intervention — mostly because its fund balance is depleted, after having $36 million in it four years ago. The board approved using reserves to balance past budgets, but that is no longer an option.
Read more: https://www.mcall.com/news/education/mc-nws-allentown-school-district-state-takeover-20190505-e4rboqwp4jgifg47vmhru5ppjq-story.html
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