**See below for updates***
Parents and Guardians of Renaissance Academy Students:
This letter comes to you asking for your help, as the current State Budget Impasse is affecting all public schools, and, most importantly our school, The Renaissance Academy.
Our state government, under the direction of the Governor, is tasked each year with creating a budget which is due on June 30th. Governor Tom Wolf proposed his fiscal year 2016 budget on March 3, 2015 which the state legislature did not agree with and they then sent their own proposal to the Governor which was vetoed on June 30th. As of today, October 20, 2015, a budget has yet to be passed. Many Commonwealth expenditures cannot be made without an approved budget and will be delayed until that occurs. Since much of the State’s educational funding must be appropriated by the General Assembly, payments will not be processed until a budget is approved for FY 2015-16. In short, public schools are not receiving state funding.
What does this mean for RA?
Renaissance, as a Public Charter School, receives approximately 96% of its operating funds directly through the sending school districts and many of these districts are citing the current budget impasse and their failure to receive state funding as cause for reducing their legally required payments to Renaissance, or stopping them all together.
Some districts, such as Springford Area SD and Phoenixville Area SD are still paying us, or have committed to paying a portion of their obligations each month. This is very helpful but unfortunately we have no guarantee of how long it may continue as their funds are bound to get tighter as well. One of our largest sending districts: Norristown Area School District, which provides almost 35% of our operating funds, has already notified us that they cannot pay and that we will not receive any funds from them. These decisions among the school districts are putting us into a situation where we will not have sufficient funds coming in to meet the school’s normal operating expenses.
What is RA doing about it?
Short term we are fortunate that all of our teachers have what they currently need to teach and that we are well supplied in our classrooms. Even so, staff has been instructed to cease any further discretionary spending and all of our available funds will be used to cover our existing bills, such as utilities and personnel payroll. The Business office is also looking at current contracts and requesting negotiated rates or examining terms that may lessen our fees for certain services. In addition, the Board of Trustees has authorized the Finance Committee to seek a line of credit to provide a device by which we can gain an additional time cushion. There is also action we are taking, per the Charter Law, to seek funds outside of the district payments and Renaissance has begun taking all the steps that this process requires.
Even with all of these steps, if this situation continues into 2016 it is very likely that we will need to take drastic measures such as reducing school operations and functions in an attempt to avoid a total school closure. Please understand that this is a temporary situation brought on by the failure of our State government to pass a budget. The funds will come to the schools once a budget is passed, and normal operations would resume, it is simply a matter of how long we can operate in the meantime.
WE NEED YOUR HELP.
As always, your voice as a voter is key! We are urging you to contact your state representatives, senators and the Governor’s Office. Find out what they are doing to break this impasse and pass a budget.
Thank you in advance for your time and your actions. It is critical that we as members of a School Choice Community understand how government actions affect our schools and our kids.
Kent Smith Gina Guarino Buli
President, Board of Trustees Chief Executive Officer
If you would like to learn more about the current budget impasse and how it affects charter schools, please see below.
Informational Links:
Thank you to the dozens of families who stopped by to sign our Budget Impasse Petition during SLCs. Many of you asked for a template or information with which you could contact your own representatives. An example is attached here. You will also find contact information for our Governor, our Secretary of Education and several of our State Representatives and Senators. The template is in 'Word' format and should be easily adapted for your needs.
We urge you to use this information to continue reaching out on behalf or RA and all public schools in PA.
**UPDATE NOVEMBER 10, 2015**
I am sure that you continue to follow the news and see that as we get close to the middle of November our state budget has still yet to be passed. This continues to be a cause of concern for our school as we work to conserve resources, unsure of how long the situation will continue.
As many of you have continued to ask about the current State Budget Impasse, the number one question has been, ‘What else can we do?’
As noted previously, you are encouraged to contact your local and state representatives. We have provided templates of letters that you may use (here again for your use). You are also encouraged to make appointments to meet with them, or simply reach out by phone. The more contact they have from parents of public school children, the better!
We have also become aware of an organization, Public Citizens for Children and Youth, which is running a ‘Budget Action Day’ Please see below for their website and more information regarding this event.
http://www.pccy.org/event/5737/
Education Budget Action Day
Capitol Building, Harrisburg PA
Monday, November 16, 2015
8:00am - 4:30pm
While RA cannot provide this experience as a school function, your child will receive an exempt absence should you choose to attend with them. If you plan to travel with your family PLEASE notify the attendance line and your child’s teacher NO LATER THAN November 13, 2015 so that we may plan accordingly.