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Is this what they mean by fuzzy math?
In an incredible display of insulting the intelligence of Wilkes-Barre Area School District taxpayers, the district’s business office released the results of an in-house analysis of future financial projections.
“GOING FOR BROKE” blared the headline for a front page Times Leader article published Dec. 26.
The release of WBA’s future financial picture was apparently meant to sound the alarm and convince skeptics if the status quo of three neighborhood high schools remains, the district could be headed into bankruptcy. And here we thought it was already on that slippery slope.
The gloomy projections say even though income will grow faster than spending (thanks, taxpayers), by the 2019-20 school year, the district will see a $17.61 million deficit.
What’s odd about these numbers is the district’s own business manager said they’re flawed and may be proven “very inaccurate,” the TL reported. Go figure.
That could be because the projections are based, in part, on no future pay raises for teachers. We’re guessing no one told the teachers’ union about this because, otherwise, we’d have heard them laughing or screaming from Plains to south Wilkes-Barre.
The figures also assume there will be no increases in health care premiums. Wouldn’t that be nice?
District Business Manager Leonard Pryzwara conceded the figures presented for public consumption are strictly hypothetical. PHEW! Because if he really believes there will be a pay freeze for teachers and no increases in health care costs in years to come, he’d have no business being in charge of overseeing the district’s finances.
This analysis begs the question: With an estimated $100 million school consolidation project in the works, what are the real numbers and what can taxpayers expect?
Pryzwara said part of his and the school board’s job is to keep the budget balanced each year. And they’re doing a fine job of that since, at least for now, the district’s deficit is only $4.5 million, according to a TL chart which accompanied its article. At least we think it’s only $4.5 million.
We’ve yet to see the state’s take on WBA’s financial status. That report is expected to be released some time this month, board member Shawn Walker said. The district had asked the state for help in getting a handle on its financial woes.
Walker said he understands taxpayers’ concerns and compared news of the district’s financial crisis to a “punch in the face. No one saw anything coming.”
There’s a lot district residents haven’t seen coming. The school board has been all over the place recently in deciding where to put displaced students when the demolition of Coughlin High School begins. The board voted to spend more than $2 million on modular classrooms. Then it talked about buying the Times Leader building. Then it discussed having Coughlin students attend split sessions at the renovated Mackin Street school. Last we heard, the contractor who did the work at Mackin was going to buy the TL building and rent space to WBA.
Walker agreed there have been “ too many what ifs, too many maybes. We’ve got to choose,” he said.
Times Leader Staff Writer Mark Guydish also reported the business office’s projected income would increase by 2.7 percent tax hikes each year, the maximum allowed by law. Lave it to our government to find a way to increase the maximum.
For the 2016-17 school year, the state is allowing WBA to raise taxes by a maximum of 3.4 percent, the TL reported. If you think it won’t grab onto that brass ring, then you likely also believe teachers will forgo pay raises since the cash-strapped district plans to borrow $100 million to build a new high school and add classrooms to an elementary one.
“The problem is the board doesn’t want to raise taxes; they want to do what’s right by the taxpayer,” Przywara said. With all those recent tax hikes and forging ahead with a school consolidation plan many disdain, they could have fooled us.
There may be other surprises in store. There’s now talk the board may be open to merging all three high schools — Coughlin, Meyers and GAR — at the Coughlin site, although that’s not the plan the district submitted to the state at a cost of $67,000 to obtain partial reimbursement of new construction costs. Walker said if the district agreed to consolidate its three high schools, the plan would have to be resubmitted. What’s a few more tens of thousands of dollars?
Too bad the district scared away a group of private investors willing to finance new construction and renovation costs. Those investors, who had lined up a prestigious local contracting firm, said their plan would have made annual tax hikes unnecessary. Sure, their proposal required intense scrutiny; however, it seemed at the time, the school board and district officials didn’t take them seriously — maybe because they were determined to proceed with their own plan, no matter what.
Walker, who’s a pastor, said he believes if the “right solution comes along,” his colleagues on the board would agree to shift gears, even move the new school site from North Washington Street.
Now, that’s what you call having faith.