T/E President to H'burg: “Fix your mess!”

The T/E School Board has been vocal and open about its budget woes over the past few months. But now, their battlecry is about to get much louder.

After the findings of the Tax Study Group were released to the public and the pros and cons were carefully weighed, Board leaders know exactly what needs to happen next, and the legislators in Harrisburg are going to be hearing from T/E.

The findings of the Tax Study Group gave the pros and cons of an Earned Income Tax(EIT). The district’s financial issues stem from one main place; the compound interest piling up because of the Pennsylvania Employees Retirement System, or PESRS, as it was explained to the board and the public in two presentations made on Thursday.

“Back in 2001 the pension payout for teachers went from two percent to two and a half percent,” said T/E School Board President Karen Cruickshank. “The pension increase for legislators increased to 3%. And so, the legislators don’t have a lot of real reason to change this, because their pensions are tied to this. But that’s what’s going to bankrupt all of our schools, across the state. And I think we really need to get loud about this.”

But it’s not all talk and no plan. Cruickshank wants to see a coordinated effort from all of the school districts in the area.

“I’d like to see every school district up on the same web site, showing over the next five years, how those pension increases are going to spike and at what point its going to make their budgets go in the red,” said Cruickshank. “And I’d like to show it, district after district.”

Cruickshank is ready to shout TE’s plight from the rooftops.

“You send it to every legislator, you send it to the governor, you give it to the citizens, you give it to [the media] and say, this is what’s going to bankrupt the schools, not any mismanagement that’s happened at a local level,” Cruickshank said.

The T/E Board Presdient's message to Harisburg?

“Fix your mess,” she said. “The problem is state-created. And why should I tax citizens locally via an EIT, for a mess that the state created?”

While the Tax Study Group's work is over, the discussion of an EIT is far from over. Frankly, it’s really just begun. The discussion will go to a new level on November 14, at a special School Board meeting. That is when current school board  members will decide whether or not to recommend the possibility of putting an EIT on the ballot. There is a state-mandated deadline of November 16 for the first step. If the current members of the board vote to leave the option of an EIT open, then the new school board members would have to vote again in February, at least 60 days before the April primary election, on the whether to put the EIT question on the ballot.

According to T/E School Board Vice President Betsy Fadem, an EIT isn’t out of the question just yet. On the contrary, it’s “absolutely” still up in the air.

“I see it as a great way to start our deliberation as a board, on the 14^th,” said Fadem. 

While all candidates, both Republican and Democrat have taken a stand as "personally" opposing the EIT, that is a far different question than whether they would vote to put it on the ballot. Republicans generally would not.

Some Democrats, including Easttown Democrat Leader and school board candidate Craig Lewis told Patch last week he would be open to letting the voters decide.

Tredyffrin Democrat Leader Dariel Jamieson told Patch she would challenge Republican candidates for and on the Tredyffrin Board of Supervisors to pledge not to take half the revenue generated by an EIT. (Under Pennsylvania law, townships are permitted to take 50% of a school district's EIT revenue just by passing a resolution). Of course in order to have an EIT the school board would have to first vote to put the tax on the ballot, and the public would have to approve.