Penn Hills School District to form advisory committee Monday night

A special advisory committee designed to help with Penn Hills School District’s financial recovery is expected to be formed Monday.

Superintendent Nancy Hines said officials from the Allegheny Intermediate Unit are vetting candidates and plan to make recommendations at the school board meeting set for 7 p.m. at Linton Middle School, 250 Aster St.

An agenda may be posted on the district’s website, phsd.k12.pa.us, later this week.

The committee will consist of two school board members, the superintendent, business manager, district community members, a charter school representative, a special education advocate and possibly a superintendent or business manager from another school district.

Penn Hills’ state-appointed financial recovery officer, Dan Matsook, will work with the committee to formulate a plan to get the debt-ridden school district back on track. Matsook’s work with the district began Feb. 11.

He said he is in the data gathering stage and getting acclimated with the district’s situation.

“The bottom line is the plan (will have) my signature on it, so we’re hoping to work in cooperation (with the committee and the community),” Matsook said. “It’s only through the goodwill of everybody in this community and in this organization that we’ll get it done. We can get it done. We will get it done.

“If you have children in our schools here, they’re getting educated in a safe and secure environment,” he said. “The teachers are working extremely hard. There’s no denial of any education in any of these buildings here in Penn Hills.

“We just got to get our act together on the financial part.”

Penn Hills is more than $172 million in debt largely due to the construction of a high school and elementary school.

It’s 2019-20 preliminary budget, which was approved Tuesday night, calls for maximum tax increases and still projects an $8.1 million shortfall.

The school board must pass a final — balanced — budget by the end of June.