State Budget Won’t Adversely Affect CV

Educators across Pennsylvania have serious concerns with Gov. Tom Corbett’s state budget cuts announced Tuesday, but Chartiers Valley administrators think the impact will be minimal to the school district and its taxpayers.

Chartiers Valley Superintendent Brian White Jr. told the school board Tuesday night that the district will probably face a shortfall of about $787,000, but the majority of that is due to the end of stimulus funds.

He expects that the district ultimately will have to fill a gap of  $263,000 in the 2011-12 budget because officials did not expect more stimulus money this year. That gap can be closed through small cuts, which probably won’t require teacher furloughs or a tax increase.

“We’re going to be OK.  We’re very fortunate,” White said. “We’ll still have difficult decisions to make.”

Business Manager Nicholas Morelli said the district put itself in good financial shape to weather the upcoming state funding cuts. He said other school districts are facing far greater shortfalls than Chartiers Valley.

“If anyone didn’t know this was coming, then they were living under a rock,” Morelli said. “We set ourselves up for this moment.”

White does not think any teachers will have to be furloughed, although he said vacant positions left by retiring teachers probably will not be filled. He also said most new programs that are pitched to the school board will have to be scrutinized more than in the past.

“It’s not great. It’s not terrible. It’s in the middle,” White said. “There are reductions we have to make. I think we’ll be OK, but we’ll continue to have to ask people to do more with less.”