Despite state aid, ax falls hard on Chester Upland

A last-minute infusion of state education funds for the financially drowning Chester Upland School District might have averted the worst-case situation for students, but for now, at least, the district has laid off more than 40 percent of its total staff.

The state budget deal announced by the legislature on Monday put an extra $9.6 million into the Basic Education Fund allocation for Chester Upland. A further million was added through restoring part of the city's Accountability Block Grant. In March, the Corbett administration had called for a $4.3 million cut in payments to the Delaware County district from the Basic Education Fund.

Because the school board had not had time to make adjustments in its 2011-12 budget that reflect the changes, it went ahead Tuesday night and laid off 295 employees, including 150 classroom teachers, six bus drivers, 16 classroom aides, 11 security guards, and six counselors.

If the cuts were to become permanent, class size would go up from an average of 21 to 35.

Acting Superintendent Joyce Wells said that some people would be called back, but that the district was not yet able to say how many or in which areas.

"We're looking at it right now, analyzing and trying to do what is best for the students," she told an audience of about 100.

Said Delores Shelton, a longtime school district activist: "We're going to be really struggling now."

The board also passed a $96.1 million budget, $17 million less than last year.

Despite Monday's funding boost, the 7,280-student district, which depends on state money for more than two-thirds of its budget, still stands to lose about 45 percent of its state allocation, about $8.5 million.

That's because the largest cut to Chester Upland's state funding, charter school reimbursements, was not reversed.

Districts have to pay for the cost of educating their students in charter schools, which almost 40 percent of Chester Upland's children attend. Last year, the state reimbursed the district for $11.1 million of those costs; the state budget deal reached Monday included no charter reimbursements for 2011-12.

The proposed budget passed Tuesday calls for spending $39.4 million - about 40 percent of the total spending plan - for those payments.

The district is also losing about $11 million in onetime federal grants and stimulus money.

Wanda Mann, president of the Chester Upland school board, thanked Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware), who represents the district, for securing the extra funding.

"We are grateful for that," she said.

Pileggi said Tuesday night that Corbett's original budget proposal would have cut Chester Upland's total budget 20 percent. "I didn't think that was fair," he said. "We brought it down to something more manageable."

The senator said that he also helped obtain some extra funding for other hard-hit districts, including Erie, Harrisburg, and Allentown.