Great Valley Faces 'Serious' Cuts In Coming Years

Superintendent Alan Lonoconus predicts the March 12 school board work session will be very well attended.

That's the night the Great Valley School District will begin discussing in earnest the deep cuts necessary to close a budget gap that stands at $5.6 million for 2012-2013, excluding reserve funds. By the 2015-16 school year, the gap is projected to exceed $10 million.

Board member Andrew Daga described the imbalance as a looming financial "catastrophe."

At its January meeting, the school board passed a preliminary budget of $79,175,000 for 2012-13, which included a 2.4 percent tax increase over the previous year. The resultant revenue shortfall was reduced to $1,478,767 by drawing on $3.8 million in reserve funds. In Lonoconus's presentation Monday night, the 2012-13 budget projection had grown to an even $79.5 million, due to an increase in health care costs.

The superintendent said the administration has cut $11.5 million in recent years without a significant negative impact on students, but it is now working to find an additional $2 million to $3 million to cut annually over the next three years. And educational cuts in the state budget will grow "steeper and deeper."

"We will be looking at programs pretty hard and personnel pretty hard, not only this year but also the next two or three years," Lonoconus said. "[I] just want to get that out, publicly."

The budget for 2012-13 eliminates 2.5 teaching positions at the elementary level, reduces the operating budget by $140,000 and cuts the budgetary reserve allocation for the year by $230,000.

"[The cuts] are going to be serious. There's no two ways about it. We no longer have a choice," Lonoconus said.

Even the near-term cuts have been "pretty much getting to the bone," according to the superintendent.

Colorful charts and graphs projected onto a screen at the school board meeting showed reserve funds depleted and a budget shortfall of $12.2 million by the 2016-17 school year.

Daga laid out a grim assessment of the situation.

"I see nothing on the horizon that gives me the suggestion that we're going to avoid, basically, a catastrophe in the system, financially, over the next several years," Daga said.

Quality of education will be negatively impacted and, because of systemic limitations, raising taxes won't solve the problem, Daga said.

Board member Ted Leisenring cast responsibility on the teachers unions, without mentioning them explicitly.

"We know who the gorilla is in the room," Leisenring said. "The gorilla's got to step up and help us. That's it."

Lonoconus will continue to hold community information sessions about the schools budget, including one Feb. 23 in East Whiteland and one March 27 in Charlestown. The final budget will be adopted June 4.