Intermediate units borrow millions, warn of possible layoffs during budget impasses

The Westmoreland Intermediate Unit wants to borrow $2 million to keep services and programs operating during the ongoing state budget crisis, the organization’s leader said.

If the Intermediate Unit board of directors approves borrowing the money through a revenue anticipation loan, it can avoid disruptions through the remainder of the year, Executive Director Jason Conway said. The group provides educational services to 17 public school districts, three Career and Technology Centers and Clairview School, a special education center.

“The $2 million is sufficient to carry us through the end of the year” without the need to furlough employees or cut programs, Conway said.

The IU administration will seek its second revenue anticipation loan for this fiscal year, Conway said. The board, which consists of representatives from the school districts, already approved a $5 million revenue anticipation loan, he noted.

Because of the funding crunch, the intermediate unit notified about 300 employees last week that they could face temporary layoffs beginning in December if it does not borrow the money or the state does not resolve the budget battle that has kept Pennsylvania government without a spending plan since July 1.

The intermediate unit, with a budget of about $46 million, is owed about $9.75 million from state and federal governments for various programs from the past fiscal year and current school year, Conway said. The IU also is owed close to $700,000 for educational services it provided to school districts, and those have been billed, Conway said.

“We are all in this together,” said Conway, who declined to identify which school districts owe money to the intermediate unit. Because the state has not released its money to school districts, Conway said, the IU is not pressing them for payment.

‘Very frustrating’

The ARIN Intermediate Unit, which services schools in Armstrong and Indiana counties, is not considering any furloughs or curtailment of services, though the continued lack of funding remains extremely concerning, said Matthew Curci, the group’s executive director.

The ARIN board, consisting of representatives from the 11 school districts served by the IU, approved a revenue anticipation note of up to $8 million at its October meeting to meet payroll and keep operations going, Curci said. With that extra money, ARIN will be able to function into February, should the impasse continue.

“It is very frustrating that we are at this point across the state, and I am fearful that as hard as we and so many other agencies who support children and families scramble to keep things afloat, we soon will not be able to provide the support they so desperately need,” Curci said.

Robert Scherrer, executive director of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, could not be reached for comment Friday. With a $190 million budget, that intermediate unit serves about 111,000 students in 42 school districts in Allegheny County.

‘Disservice’ to students

After receiving notice they could face temporary layoffs in December, the Pennsylvania State Education Association met with about 60 teachers and education support professionals Wednesday to discuss the potential furloughs.

“Students with special needs will be the ones who suffer most” during a layoff, said Terri Pajak, president of the IU7 Education Support Professionals local union, who works at a Centerville mental health unit in Greensburg.

“It effects everyone’s working condition. What affects our working conditions affects the students’ learning environment,” Stacey Bojac, president of the IU7 PSEA, which represents the IU teachers.

Said Amanda Mars of South Greensburg, an early intervention teacher at the Clairview School: “It would be a huge disservice for those students to lose their services for any amount of time. The daily living skills and special skills we teach are really important.”

All of the state’s intermediate units are facing financial strain created by the state’s failure to pass a budget, said Matt Edgell, PSEA region advocacy coordinator.

“We’re (Westmoreland IU) the first, but certainly not the last” that may be faced with layoffs, Edgell said.

The state budget crisis already has hit government employees in Westmoreland County, as about 125 people were furloughed because the state has not allocated anticipated money to the county.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, has come under criticism for the General Assembly’s failure to pass a state budget, even though the Republican-controlled Senate passed its own version of a $47.9 billion budget this week.

The Democratic-controlled House has not voted on it, and its own proposed budget of $50.2 billion has not met Senate approval.

Ward, in a statement released Wednesday, said the Republican budget proposal protects people’s wallets and the state’s financial stability while ensuring that counties, school districts and other state government partners receive needed funding. That includes the Westmoreland IU.

“The bottom line is, if the House passes the budget the Senate sent to them this week, funding will flow immediately,” she said.

Edgell dismissed the Senate’s budget proposal as merely a “cut-and-paste” job of the 2024-25 state budget, with $6 million added to cover the cost of pensions.

“There is zero money coming from Harrisburg for public schools,” Edgell said. “You and your students are being used, basically, as pawns” in the budget battle.