The Sto-Rox School District west of Pittsburgh is entering the second year of a five-year state-mandated financial recovery plan, and by one measurement, it's already come a long way. In the first year, it reduced its budget deficit by two-thirds, $6.5 million to $2.1 million.
But most of the reduction came from one-time federal COVID relief dollars. And without an influx of dollars, Superintendent Megan Van Fossen said, it will be challenging to keep the district afloat.
“I have been very open and honest that without that money, we would have never made the progress that we made,” Van Fossan acknowledged. “Next year we will have a positive fund balance with a little bit in our accounts. But it is going to be like living paycheck to paycheck in a sense: All of your money that comes in goes right back out the door.”
The district will hold a town hall meeting Monday at 6 p.m. at Focus on Renewal in McKees Rocks to update the community on its recovery — and to hear from residents about the next steps forward.
The goal, Van Fossan said, is to ask residents, “What is it that we don’t do well at? What are those ideas that you believe would help us better ensure every kid got a high-quality education every day?"
Those questions are crucial in a district where nearly a fifth of the budget is sent to charter schools that educate district students. About 600 students living within the district’s boundaries attend charter schools, while nearly 1,300 attend the district’s schools.
Van Fossan has advocated for the state to reform how it calculates charter school tuitions. In the meantime, the district has to focus on its own operations.
The chief recovery officer assigned by the state to work with the district, John Zahorchak, said that the district’s financial recovery plan outlines a, “clear, forward-looking path that will allow the district to achieve financial stability, preserve academic programs, and generate resources to invest in student supports and other priorities.”
With deficits still looming, Van Fossan said there’s not many areas left for the administration to cut. The district’s administrative office is down to three positions: her own, that of the business manager, and the special education director.
But she said she's willing to try new approaches. Recently she reached out to local businesses late in the evening when she heard some students couldn’t afford to attend prom. (Nearly 95% of Sto-Rox students are considered economically disadvantaged.) She received enough donations to cover all of the students' costs.
“We believe that taking information from parents and changing programming most effectively happens at the grassroots level or in the classrooms,” she said. “I think for other things, we have to continue to be creative.”
School board president Cameron Culliver said the district is making a point of holding the town hall in the community, to meet people where they are.
“It’s important for us to be responsive and upfront with our families,” he said.
