Morrisville superintendent says district will keep pressing Harrisburg after $50,000 adequacy supplement

Dr. Andrew Dassner, superintendent of the Morrisville Borough School District, told the board that the recently passed state budget included an adequacy supplement of $50,000 for Morrisville and that he will continue advocacy efforts in Harrisburg to address funding disparities.

“I'm going to continue to press things, even though the budget is finalized at a state level,” Dassner said, describing ongoing advocacy and recent media attention from Education Week. He said he was coordinating with legislators and would follow up with Senator San Jacero’s office on a grant that staff described as an additional $1.5 million and efforts to secure a matching $1.5 million.

The superintendent contrasted Morrisville’s adequacy supplement with amounts reported for nearby districts: Bristol Borough School District ($254,001.79) and Bristol Township ($1,842,842.10). Dassner said those comparisons underscore what he called persistent misalignment in the funding formula and reinforced the district’s need to continue outreach to state leaders.

Why this matters: adequacy-supplement amounts affect operating budgets for instructional programs, staffing and student services. Dassner told the board that district leaders and intermediate unit partners have been meeting with state officials and will continue to press for changes to the funding formula.

Board members and administrators said they would continue to prioritize communication with the district’s legislators and to share incoming coverage and grant updates with the board. Dassner also said a national education publication recently visited district buildings to gather material on how budgets affect students, and he pledged to forward the article to the board when it is published.

Next steps: Dassner said department heads will receive preliminary budget numbers in December and the board will see a first look at the 2026–27 budget in January as planned.