William Penn School District is implementing a 5.9 percent property tax increase and is cutting positions to cope with a budget crisis, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.
Two actions from Pennsylvania would keep it from having to cut art, athletic, and music programs next year.
“This is not something that I want to do,” Superintendent Eric Becoats said. “This is something that I have to do in order to ensure that our district remains solvent. We don’t really have much of a choice.”
Currently, the district is eliminating nearly a dozen central office positions, reducing mental health support staff, implementing a hiring freeze, and removing academic interventionists from elementary schools.
William Penn’s multi-million deficit comes from a growth in benefits and salaries, charter school tuition costs, and debt service payments, administrators said.
State-implemented cyber charter school reforms would reduce William Penn’s expenditures by $2.2 million. An additional $3 million in state adequacy funding is also required.
The district is owed $28 million in adequacy gap dollars, which will be paid out over nine years as part of a statewide funding plan.
The slow release of those funds is not keeping pace with expenditures, Becoats said.
Find out more about the issues facing the William Penn School District at WHYY.
Editor’s Note: This post was initially published on DELCO Today in June 2025.
