ethompson@lewistownsentinel.com
LEWISTOWN – Mifflin County school leaders are not optimistic about how Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed budget will affect rural school districts.
Mifflin County School District Chief Financial Officer Melinda Kenepp explained to the district’s board of directors Thursday during its Committee-of-the Whole meeting, that while the governor’s proposal shows a $1.3 billion increase to schools across the state, Mifflin County’s portion would be relatively low.
Superintendent James Estep explained that if the state sticks to its current proposed formula, any school that is experiencing declining enrollment like Mifflin County and other rural school districts “is going to be seriously harmed in terms of what kind of basic and special ed funding they can get,” he said. “So, unfortunately, that means for a lot of rural schools like ours…we are going to see our state funding shrink even further, which would create some difficult decisions for us