Scranton Legislators Weigh In on Recovery Status - Scranton Citizen
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Scranton Legislators Weigh In on Recovery Status

Scranton’s legislative representatives have weighed in on the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s decision to place the Scranton School District in Financial Recovery Status.  Democratic State Senator John Blake and State Representatives Marty Flynn and Kyle Mullins said Wednesday that they view the state’s declaration as an important step toward long term financial recovery.

“We are all well aware of the significant and mounting budgetary challenges faced by our largest school district and without additional state support on an administrative and budgetary level, the district, our taxpayers and our students would only continue to suffer,” said Blake. “We have seen how the guidance of Act 47 has helped the City of Scranton on the path to recovery.  I believe the actions taken today by PDE will set a path for Scranton School District to return to financial stability and, importantly, improve the educational experience for all of our students.  Informed by details learned while under financial watch, this is a logical next step toward the district’s fiscal recovery.”

Blake noted that schools placed in recovery status are appointed a full-time chief recovery officer who works onsite with school officials to implement a financial plan to lead the district into solvency and position it for academic success. In addition, a special advisory committee established by the school board will work with the recovery officer to provide recommendations and feedback on the financial recovery plan.

“This declaration by PDE presents the Scranton School Board and district administrators with an opportunity to work more closely and collaboratively with PDE to ensure that the district gets its finances in order,” said Mullins. “Financial Recovery Status is the next step in a process that hopefully leads to a recovery plan that is fair to Scranton taxpayers and beneficial to district students.”

Scranton has been designated as a Financial Watch district by Pennsylvania’s Department of Education since June 2017 and has received technical assistance on financial and budgetary issues.  The legislators also noted that they had advocated for additional state funding over the past two budget cycles to assist the district.

“The District continues to struggle with its finances and it is good to see that the state and PDE are finally going to be more closely involved with the decisions being made,” Flynn added. “The Scranton tax base is so over-stretched and we are dealing with a severely underfunded school district. I hope that this designation can bring additional funding and eventually, financial stability to Scranton School District.”

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