North Hills board hears state funding update; district cites more than $2 million adequacy gap

At the March 13 legislative meeting, board member Mrs. Stevens summarized recent state budget discussions in Harrisburg and described how proposed and pending changes could affect North Hills School District.

Stevens told the board that state Department of Education officials had appeared before the Pennsylvania House and Senate Budgetary and Appropriations Committees. "Among the items discussed most intensely in those meetings were the federal funding impacts on state education budgets and the, dollars 1,600,000,000.0 in federal funding that the state receives for K through 12 education," she said. She also noted attention to flat rates for cyber schools following recent audits and to adequacy gap funding, which she said affects North Hills directly.

"Right now, we have an identified gap of over $2,000,000," Stevens said. She told the board the district received $244,000 in adequacy funding last year and is slated to receive another $244,000 in the current budget. Stevens also said the federal administration had cut USDA funding for the national program that supported local Farm‑to‑School initiatives, describing the program as a $660,000,000 federal program that had helped Pennsylvania’s Farm to Schools efforts.

Stevens’ briefing was presented as information to the board; no formal board action was taken on the state funding issue during the meeting. The board chair then announced a public budget meeting to follow adjournment, giving residents an opportunity to review the district budget work.

The board record did not include legislative text or a proposed state appropriation; Stevens referenced committee hearings and federal program cut figures as the basis for the update.