State Basic Education Funding
For the 2013-14 school year, the Sharon City School District will receive $13,604,134 in Pennsylvania Basic Education Funding, which is $196,286 more than its 2012-13 state BEF to the District. Additionally, Sharon City School District will receive $189,534 in Accountability Block Grant funding to focus on academic achievement and level funding for special education services. The District has the option of applying for several other state and federal grants to increase revenues. The Commonwealth’s budget increased Basic Education Funding statewide by $123 million to over $5.5 billion. The state funded the PSERS (state school employee pension fund) with $1,017,000,000 and Social Security payments for school employees of $495 million.
In the 2012-13 school year, the Sharon City School District received $13,597,382. The Governor's Executive Budget for 2012-2013 included $9.34 billion for kindergarten through 12th grade public education including $5.4 billion in basic education funding which was an increase of $49 million over the 2011-12 budget. In addition, the Commonwealth provided $100 million for the Accountability Block Grant (ABG) program. Sharon City School District received $189,534 in ABG funding. The state also provided a $544.4 million payment for School Employees’ Social Security and $856 million for School Employees’ Retirement fund called PSERS. This amount was a $21,823,000 increase (0.34%) over the 2011-2012 appropriations for Basic Education Funding, School Employees' Social Security, Pupil Transportation, Nonpublic and Charter School Pupil Transportation. Since taking office, Corbett’s first two budgets have restored more than $918 million in support of public schools, compensating for the $1 billion in federal stimulus dollars lost at the end of the 2010-11 school year.
In 2011-12, Sharon City School District received a $13,407,439 allocation, of state Basic Education Funding. Additionally, the Sharon City School District received $189,534 in Accountability Block Grant funding. The enacted Pennsylvania state Education budget included $5,354,629,000 for the 2011-2012 Basic Education Funding appropriation. This amount was a $233,290,000 increase (4.6%) over the enacted State appropriation for 2010-2011. The highest increase in state basic education funding was awarded to Duquesne City School District of Allegheny County, which got a 49% increase in state funding for 2011-12. In 2010, the district reported that 1,427 students received free or reduced price lunches, due to the family meeting the federal poverty level.
In the 2010-11 budget year, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania provided a 5.80% increase in Basic Education Funding for a total of $14,874,215 to Sharon City School District. Among the districts in Mercer County, the highest increase went to Greenville Area School District which got a 7.54% increase in BEF. One hundred fifty Pennsylvania school districts received the base 2% increase. The highest increase in 2010-11 went to Kennett Consolidated School District in Chester County which received a 23.65% increase in state funding. Fifteen (15) Pennsylvania public school districts received a BEF increase of greater than 10%. The state's hold harmless policy regarding state basic education funding continued where each district received at least the same amount as it received the prior school year, even when enrollment had significantly declined. The amount of increase each school district received was set by Governor Edward Rendell and then Secretary of Education Gerald Zahorchak, as a part of the state budget proposal given each February. This was the second year of Governor Rendell’s policy to fund some public school districts at a far greater rate than others.
In the 2009-10 budget year, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania provided a 7.59% increase in Basic Education Funding for a total of $14,059,155. This was the highest increase awarded to Mercer County public school districts. Ninety (90) Pennsylvania public school districts received the base 2% increase. Muhlenberg School District in Berks County received a 22.31% increase in state basic education funding in 2009. The amount of increase each school district received was set by Governor Edward G. Rendell and the Secretary of Education Gerald Zahorchak, as a part of the state budget proposal. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Pennsylvania spent $7,824 Per Pupil in the year 2000. This amount increased up to $12,085 by the year 2008.
The state Basic Education Funding to the Sharon City School District in 2008-09 was $12,305,679.66. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, 1,418 District students received free or reduced lunches due to low family income in the 2007–2008 school year.
Read more about this topic: Sharon City School District, Budget
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