NEWS INFORMATION FROM

THE OFFICE OF MAYOR STEPHEN R. REED
City of Harrisburg
King City Government Center
Harrisburg, PA 17101-1678
Telephone: 717.255.3040

FOR IMMEDIATE USE
12 May 2004

DRAFT HARRISBURG SCHOOL BUDGET HAS NO TAX INCREASE

Harrisburg, PA—Mayor Stephen R. Reed today said the now completed draft Harrisburg School District budget does not contain any tax increase for the coming school fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005.

The budget totals $126,902,700, allocated to the various neighborhood schools and high school operations, including recently initiated programs, such as the Early Childhood Program, the After-School Program, the Alternate Education Academy, the Math and Science Academy, Sci Tech High School, and extensive literacy improvement activities. It also includes expanded focus on math and science curriculum.

The Early Childhood Program will expand from its present 390 student enrollment to 510, all involving 3 and 4 year olds. It continues the all day Kindergarten program.

The Science and Technology High School, or Sci Tech High, which opened last September and currently has 150 students, will move into its newly renovated headquarters in the 200 block of Market Street, with student enrollment expanding to 300 in the Fall.

Reed said the school district has sustained the first major enrollment increases in over a quarter century in the past 18 months, with there now being more than 1200 more students—creating the need for additional teachers, class-rooms, books and supplies.

The Mayor cautioned that a variety of mandated costs—for such things as special education, pension fund, health insurance, and utilities—continue to rise and divert monies from instructional programs. He said school administrators are to reduce expenses during the coming school year, including not filling non-essential staff vacancies that may arise. “There is no obligation to spend the entire budget. In fact, every effort should be made to spend less, as every school budget contains variables in terms of revenues and costs that can rise or fall. The focus shall remain on educational reform and improvement and non-essential expenditures that do not affect this should be further reduced. That will be a continuing goal for the district,” Reed said.

He cited a major upcoming energy conservation project, that will save over $3.5 million in energy costs over the next seven years, as an example.

Reed said preparation of the budget—which has been on-going for two months—was approached with twin objectives—continuing and, where possible, expanding educational reform initiatives while avoiding a local tax increase.

The draft budget will go on public display next Monday and is expected to be in final form for adoption in June. It takes effect July 1.

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