Duquesne+schools+‘unlikely+to+continue’

=By Patrick Cloonan= =//Published by the McKeesport Daily News//= =//10/12/11//= = = = = = = =On a day when Gov. Tom Corbett addressed failing public schools, a Pennsylvania Department of Education spokesman said Duquesne City School District is "unlikely ... to continue to function in its current form" beyond 2011-12.= =Tim Eller said that conclusion is based on a thorough review of Duquesne's fiscal health.= =It also coincided with the release of details about a budget nearly $1 million bigger than that approved in June by its state-appointed Board of Control.= ="It is unfortunate that we are losing our school district," Duquesne Mayor Phil Krivacek said. "If you lose your school district you lose your identity. It is a sad day for the community."= =Eller added that "PDE has been meeting with legislators from both parties, local officials and other concerned citizens to discuss options for the 2012-13 school year and beyond."= ="I have not received any call or communication from the PDE regarding Duquesne since the passage of the state budget," said 35th District Rep. Marc J. Gergely, D-White Oak.= =Gergely said no legislation has been proposed to deal with a situation that may not be limited to Duquesne. He pointed to the fiscally-distressed Chester Upland district near Philadelphia.= =In York, the governor proposed what Matthew Brouillette of the conservative Commonwealth Foundation called "incentives that allow children to learn, parents to choose, teachers to be excellent and taxpayers to save."= =It's a scaled-down version of Senate Bill 1, offering vouchers so low-income parents in the poorest-performing districts can send their youngsters to the public, private or parochial school of their choice, but not expanding the idea statewide as SB1 would have done. SB1 has been stuck in the Senate Education Committee since April.= ="Some students are consigned to failure because of their ZIP codes," Corbett said. "They live in the shadow of failing public schools they must attend because their families lack the resources or ability to enroll them elsewhere."= =Michael Crossey, a former Allegheny County councilman who heads the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, said vouchers would drain resources already stretched thin after this year's budget cuts.= =Eller said the governor's proposal "concerns low-performing schools based on student achievement." It was announced two weeks after Pennsylvania System of School Assessment results were issued, showing Duquesne failing to achieve "adequate yearly progress" despite numerous efforts to bring up test scores.= =Meanwhile, the district released spending plan details requested by The Daily News. It is working with a balanced budget of nearly $15.7 million for 2011-12.= =The $15,693,627 plan is up over $900,000 from the $14,779,445 budget passed June 29 by the BOC.= ="In addition to the projected state funding, the budget included an additional $2,074,216 in basic education funding specifically designated for the Duquesne City School District," BOC chairman Dr. Juan R. Baughn said.= =Also disclosed was a mix of funds including a 2012-13 School Improvement Grant, unanticipated savings and a stripping of the district fund balance.= =Added to anticipated revenues of $14.5 million is $1.2 million of Duquesne City School District's $1.4 million fund balance.= =Baughn said the 2011-12 budget was balanced with $410,000 in unspent funds for tuition of transferred high school students and special education costs.= ="In addition, in July, four months after the March BOC meeting, Duquesne administrators were given permission to spend an unanticipated $667,386 from its 2011-12 and 2012-13 state School Improvement Grant," Baughn said.= =On March 22, then-superintendent-of-record Dr. Linda Hippert said Duquesne City School District only had $11.3 million to spend, based on anticipated reductions in revenue from the federal government and Gov. Tom Corbett's new budget proposal.= =However, she said, a deficit of nearly $2.9 million still existed when fixed and required costs and a reduced professional staff were factored in, bringing a "bare bones" total of Duquesne's needs to $14.2 million.= =Hippert, executive director of Allegheny Intermediate Unit, was superintendent-of-record under an intergovernmental agreement by which AIU ran Duquesne's day-to-day operations.= =The agreement was ended by the BOC on June 28, the same day it approved a $14.78 million budget.= =The district found over $260,000 after a year-end reconciliation of the actual student membership days for Duquesne teens attending East Allegheny and West Mifflin Area high schools. A similar examination of special education turned up another surplus of over $150,000.= ="The money was not missed or lost," Baughn said. "The district was notified of extra funding sources after (Hippert's) presentation. By law, school districts are required to budget conservatively."= =That budget retained all administrators included in the district's Act 93 plan. The BOC chairman said they were needed for "closing the building" as well as filling gaps AIU left behind.= = Read more: [|Duquesne schools ‘unlikely to continue’ - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review] [|http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailynewsmckeesport/s_761444.html#ixzz1abnKNJZU] = = = = = =News= =home=