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Education Finance Potpourri

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A couple of education finance notes to cover in the news media today:

The outgoing director of an advocacy group focused on Pittsburgh Public Schools conducted an exit interview with a newspaper and was asked if there were any unaddressed issues and remarked that “one is around budgeting. This is sort of a high-spending district”.  Sort of?  In 2013-14 Pittsburgh spent $11,596 on instruction per-pupil–that was 29th highest in the state (out of 500 districts).  Measure total expenditures per-pupil and Pittsburgh ranks 16th of 500 at $21,753.  In 2003-04, Pittsburgh spent $8,497 per-pupil on instruction, which ranked it 23rd of 501 districts.  Total expenditures per-pupil were $14,907, which ranked it 18th.

Monday’s blog covered the Wilkinsburg School budget, the final one before its middle and high school students transfer to Pittsburgh Public in the fall.  The business manager for the District stated that it will “cost $9,600 for each student to go to Westinghouse”.  That runs counter to what was characterized in the agreement that first year tuition would be $8,000 and would rise to $9,600 in the second year (Wilkinsburg was spending $13,775 on instruction per-pupil, so maybe that was the basis for the comparison made by the advocacy group director) the article also mentions the soon to be approved transition money from the state, and since some of that money was already spent it must be recurring.  Another article quoted an official helping with the transition that PPS “…will hire some Wilkinsburg teachers and staff but the process is still underway”.

Lastly, Mt. Lebanon School District boosted its millage rate by 0.38 to 23.93 (since the 2013 reassessment and the adjustment of millage to 22.61, the district has boosted millage each year.  The District’s spokesperson stated that the millage hike is due to an increase in the pension contribution rate.  There is some talk of a pension reform bill for PSERS and SERS in the upcoming budget discussions.

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Allegheny Institute
Allegheny Institute

The Allegheny Institute is a non-profit research and education organization. Our mission is to defend the interests of taxpayers, citizens and businesses against an increasingly burdensome and intrusive government.

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