How Much Federal Funding for Upper Dublin Schools?

With sequestration pending, Pennsylvania stands to lose funding for many of its programs. But what about the schools?

The Upper Dublin School District is in the middle of paring down its budget. Currently, the preliminary budget weighs in at $87.2 million, but it still needs to cut $2.7 million.

Like almost all local school districts, the majority of the funds come from local revenue. In Upper Dublin’s case, it’s 84 percent, or about $71.2 million. The state contributes the next highest amount, 15 percent or $13 million; and the federal government chips in $385,000 — less than one percent.

Upper Dublin School District Business Administrator Brenda Bray called the figure “paltry” at a January meeting.

But what if we see sequestration? According to Bray, the district won’t lose all of its federal funding, but it will lose some. Bray estimates that the district would lose about $50,000.

“It’s like $50,000 that we would lose from our Title funds — Title I and Title II,” Bray said. “It’s not much, but on top of everything else that we need to do, we are looking to reduce our costs by that amount. Most of the money goes toward teacher salaries.”

Title I funds go toward improving the academic achievement of disadvantaged students; Title II funds help with the preparation, training and recruitment of high quality teachers.

To read more about the Title programs, click here.

“There are rules about using federal money to supplant local expenditures, so you have to be very careful about what you cut,” Bray said.

By comparison, neighboring Abington School District gets about $1.6 million in federal funds — just over 1 percent of its $137.3 million budget.