Call it a tale of two school districts.
Both are facing massive deficits. But they're taking different approaches to solving their financial woes.
In the Upper Darby School District, they are resisting making cuts or raising taxes in the wake of a $6.5 million shortfall.
They rolled out a spending plan this week at a packed meeting and received a standing ovation when they announced they would not hike taxes, nor would they be cutting jobs or programs.
We even went to bat on our editorial page today for the district for their efforts in not hiking the levy on property owners who have been hit with one increase after another on that bane of Pennsylvania home owners - the property tax.
Things didn't do quite so well down the road at the Interboro School District.
Once again there was a packed meeting.
But residents in Interboro learned the district is considering both cutting jobs - and raising taxes.
The district is $3 million in the red, and they say eliminating more than 20 jobs, including both teachers and support staff, along with the tax hike, still won't balance the books.
They are vowing to try to whittle the cuts before the final budget is adopted.
In the meantime, out in Harrisburg, our elected leaders are once again starting to prepare for another budget standoff.
We all know how the last one went.
But the problem remains the same. School districts - and taxpayers - are drowning in red ink.
I wonder if our leaders in Harrisburg are paying attention to what happened in Delaware Count this week.
Comments