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Scranton SD warns of space crisis as enrollment climbs; board adopts fair-funding resolution
Summary
Superintendent Keating told the board enrollment is up to 9,383, producing immediate space and special-education classroom needs; the board adopted a resolution urging prompt, adequate state funding to close a roughly $60.3 million gap and scheduled a May 26 committee meeting to review the fiscal impact.
Superintendent Dr. Keating told the Scranton School District board on May 4 that enrollment has risen to 9,383 students, a jump from expectations and higher than last year's total. Keating said that rise, combined with a rapid increase in full-time special-education and autistic-support classrooms (18 opened in two years), has created an urgent space shortfall and a need for additional dedicated classrooms in the coming year.
In response, the board voted to adopt a resolution calling on the Commonwealth to deliver an adequately funded state budget in a timely manner to help close the district's funding gap. Superintendent Keating and others said the district currently faces an estimated cumulative funding shortfall of $60,273,668 (described at the meeting as the amount the district would need to reach full funding), and that the amount would translate to a recurring annual gap when fully phased in.
Keating said the district will hold a May 26 committee meeting with financial advisor PFM to review the current financial position and to model impacts of the enrollment increase and capital/space demands. Board members and union leaders at the meeting urged the district to find interim space solutions (including evaluating closed buildings such as Bancroft) and to continue negotiations with partners on cyber-academy placement and special-education capacity.
The board's adopted resolution and the scheduled committee review are intended to support advocacy for increased state funding and to ensure updated fiscal modeling is available for upcoming budget decisions.
Provenance: Enrollment and fair-funding resolution were announced during the superintendent's report and formal fair-funding resolution item on the agenda.
