Re: ARMSTRONG COUNTY SCHOOLS

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: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : No matter what you are going to do, more funding is needed for the school districts, especially places like in Armstrong County. The feds and states put all these mandates into place and then the local districts have to find ways to pay for them. : : : : : : If you want serious, then you know that teachers' salaries are not going to be cut. Even if a ground-swell of people wanted this in the local region, the people in the more affluent and wealthy districts have no problem paying these contracts. : : : : : : Even if you consolidate into one high school or open 5 more community high schools, and through some miracle, costs would be cut to lower taxes, this would only be a temporary fix. The expenditures that are placed on the district are always going to exceed the revenue coming in. Look at other districts through the region, many of them are sinking under the expenses. If you think this is a problem that solely rests with Armstrong County, you are very much mistaken. : : : : : : Like I said, you can only hack and cut so much no matter which route you go. The BOTTOM LINE is this area needs a better tax base. Plain and simple. : : : : : : This is what I do not understand about some of these redundant posts. You can measure anything in so many ways, but the underlying premise is that this area is desperately in need of building up it's tax base. : : : : : : So, you can bean-count all you want. It is creative, but it is not a long-term solution at all. Some things can be changed, and there are things that will give brief satisfaction to the taxpayer. Or, you can look at the WHOLE issue and see that the problem is bigger than community schools, bigger than consolidation, bigger than laying off a few cafeteria workers, etc. The solution to this all is much bigger. : : : : : : We have special needs kids in schools who require a physical therapists to be in the school. We have all sorts of counselors, instead of just one guidance counselor. We have teacher assistants in the higher grade levels. I never had these things in school. I do not know if we need them or not, but I am sure they cost money. If you want to bean-count, then answer how we cut our costs with these types of things? These are costs that are going to be there no matter what we do, correct? I think this issue is much bigger than Armstrong County. : : : : : I agree with everything you say. State mandates are a problem. As soon as they are in place, the state cuts funding and the tax payers are again stuck. This area is very heavy with special needs students. Again there are state mandates in place. The state does subsidize but I believe the taxpayers pick up a 4 or 5 million burden here. But we can not just give up and say costs are going to skyrocket until we run out of money. surely there is something that can be done. Jobs are needed desperately and good paying jobs. I could not agree more. The problem is deeper than just schools. Hopefully this new board will come in with new ideas and see something that is beyond the grasp of those there now. And I do not mean consolidation. Hopefully someone outside the box can come up with something new. : : : : You are correct. The one thing that I find peculiar is that people from Western PA think that property taxes are the most important issue across PA. It is an issue across the state, but you do not see the criticism and complaints that you have in Western PA out in Eastern PA. I woke up to this a few years back when working with people from Philadelphia. This is why we see no progress on that issue. The sales tax is more of a concern for the people out east. : : : : If you are from a well-to-do or affluent district in PA, then you do not care about places like the Armstrong ASD. The only other place you hear about consolidation so much is the inner city schools. Could this be a another pattern? Socio-economic pattern, maybe? : : : : I am not giving up at all, but I think we need to refocus our attention toward things and issues that can bring long-lasting relief for the taxpayers of the ASD, instead of playing a shell game with the numbers. Until the economy changes in this district, things will remain the same. And building a new school is not going to stimulate the economy. That building will venture into disrepair and higher taxes just like the ones we have now, if the local economy stays stagnant and the state continues with it's mandates. : : : : I think this issue is more of a state issue than a local issue. State representatives and state senators should be the ones on the hot seats. : : : Amen! and people need to start looking for solutions on the larger scale so that the representatives who work for us understand that we want more than just being placated with short term fixes that aren't really fixes at all. Its time to shake things up for real rather than accepting the same garbage over and over and over again for decades upon decades while the government grows and our real benefits shrink to nearly nothing for the money we pay. : : I have a couple of thoughts on this areas problems and the tax base. : : One - "If I ran my business..." I cut costs and make my bills or I don't have a business. If necessary, I make less per hour and work more hours and my employees don't have a job. The schools should be the same. If we can't afford it, we can't afford it. Plain and simple. Cut teachers, cut counselors, cut cut cut until it works. : : Two - this area has trouble getting a tax base because the area is hooked on welfare. We don't have a good workforce, therefore, we don't offer businesses anything for which to come here. The taxes on real estate, the poor workforce, the poor workforce, and ...the poor workforce drive them away. : This is why it is imperative that ALL members of the communitiy get involved. As one person said, this is bigger than school district business. State reps, county commissioners, local business leaders, etc. all need to put their heads together. The school district situation is merely the symptom of a much larger problem.

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