A Message from H.E.R.O.

Does the Elderton Attendance Area (EAA) Tax Base pay for the operation of its school?

Financial information provided by the Armstrong School District (ASD) in the 2008-2009 Revenue and General Fund Expenditure Reports clearly shows it does. The EAA is comprised of Elderton Borough, and Kittanning, Plumcreek and South Bend townships

Quoting from the 2008-2009 Revenue Report:

EAA’s Total Revenue (Local and the PA State) $12,344,612

Quoting 2008-2009 General Fund Expenditure Report

EAA’s Expenditures were: $ 7, 782,046

(To operate a student population of 816 students)

Revenue Income minus Operating expenses $ 4,562,566

ASD then applied about 15% of the ADD costs to EAA of $ 5,010,215++

++ A review of the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 fiscal years shows that the ADD increased by $9,344,270 in one year’s time. Dr. Kerr confirmed that part of this increase was the Lenape Elementary debt payment of $3.4 million from the Fund Balance by the previous School Board. This one year uptick in ADD produced negative debt contributions in Ford City, West Shamokin and Elderton Attendance Areas. This payment distorted the financial picture of the component areas of ASD. Prior to this uptick, all ASD Attendance Area’s consistently met their pro-rated share of the debt except for West Shamokin.

Effect of the Lenape Payment on EAA’s Financial Picture

EAA’s 2007-2008 ADD portion was:	$3,713,564
As compared to 2008-2009	$5,010,215
EAA’S portion of the one year increase in ADD	$1,296,651

The ADD is any additional district costs that are accumulated and distributed to the individual schools by the percentage of students that the school is educating. The ADD includes Debt and Interest Payments for school construction and renovations.

Quoting information from the Current ASD Administration dated August 5, 2010, the EAA has been paying a prorated share of The Debt Reduction and Sinking Fund Expenditure. In the Past Five School Years, EAA paid a total of $2,019,803 toward debt reduction while having NO DEBT* on EAA buildings. (* Letter from Dale Kirsch, former Business Manager, CC: Dr. Kerr)

EAA paid 14.95% of the Debt Reduction over that 5-year period against an outstanding Bond Issue of $57,500,000 plus interest for improvements to buildings outside Elderton Attendance Area. During that 5-year Period, the Outstanding Bond Debt was reduced by $17,486,942. ASD paid $13,394,427 and the State of Pennsylvania contributed $4,092,515.

Elderton Attendance Area’s payments toward Debt Reduction Detail

School Year	% assigned to EEA	$ EEA paid for debt reduction
2004-2005	14.90	$336,928
2005-2006	14.79	$342,923
2006-2007	14.83	$434,416
2007-2008	14.90	$489,150
2008-2009	15.33	$416,386
Total EAA Debt Paid		$2,019,803
Average % over 5-yr	14.95

Note that EAA % of district students was increasing!

The Debt Service Report of 2008-2009 indicates an outstanding debt of $57,500, 000. This outstanding debt can be further broken down to:

Debt by Building

Lenape Elementary - Ford City Area	$14,600,000
West Hills Primary – Kittanning Area	$16,200,000
West Hills Intermediate – Kittanning Area	$ 8,500,000
West Shamokin Jr/Sr High – WS Area	$18,200,000

The Current Administration shows that EAA was saddled with about 15.33% of the Actual 2008-2009 Debt Payment amounting to $416,386. EAA has been paying for projects located in the other ASD attendance areas for years and receiving no renovations to our own buildings.

In response to the State required questionnaire for EAA’s secession petition, ASD provided the following information to Apollo Ridge School District:

ASD Info to Apollo Ridge

EAA’s Estimated Revenue	$10,905,499
EAA’s Estimated Expenditures	$10,755,002

You will note that the estimated Revenue and Expenses supplied to Apollo Ridge fall well below the actual numbers listed in our first example distorting the financial picture to Apollo Ridge. The EAA has not been a financial drain on the ASD as has been postulated.

Yes, Elderton Attendance Area does pay for its own school – plus contributes to the renovation of other district schools.

H.E.R.O., PAC

Research by Gerald Altmire

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Elderton Resident Refutes Senator’s Comments

by David Croyle

Pennsylvania Senator Don White (R-41) set off a firestorm with Elderton area residents following his Tuesday night comments at the Smith Complex.

White was asked to address a Tea Party group known as the Indiana-Armstrong Patriots. He was asked to comment on the re-opening of the Elderton Junior-Senior High School.

“In my opinion, it wasted about $4 million of taxpayer money in Armstrong County,” White said.

H.E.R.O (Helping Elderton Remain Open) activist and Elderton resident David Brown took White’s comments to task yesterday during WTYM’s Morning Show.

“He has said at Elderton so many times, about supporting the community and this school… and then for him to come out and say it’s a four million dollar mistake… I talked to Don yesterday on the phone. He said, ‘I know I’m talking out both sides of my mouth,’ and I said, ‘That’s wrong! That’s what politicians always get blamed for, Don. I didn’t think you were that kind of a man,”’ Brown said.

According to Brown, White told him that there has been a lot of opposition in Kittanning from some community leaders over the reopening of the school. Brown had a response.

“And I said, ‘How do you feel about the Elderton community? We also pay taxes and we have children.’ So it is devastating to us for him to say such a thing because of one reason. Many of the people in the H.E.R.O. organization had a high regard for him. But now we don’t have the regard we used to have by any means. He said he is going to come to a meeting and talk to us. We welcome him to come to a meeting and talk to us, and talk to our children and see what they are faced with now. For him saying that and putting us on the chopping block, that’s wrong.”

Brown indicated the battle lines are drawn with the Senator.

“This is not over by a long shot. This is one man’s opinion. We had 70% of the people in our attendance area wanting Elderton to stay open, even at the point of succession. It is a total mistake that we ever joined with Armstrong School District.”

Senator White’s comments came only two weeks after Pennsylvania State Representative Jeff Pyle (R-60) also criticized the reopening of Elderton.

“How they can afford it (reopening Elderton Junior-Senior High School), I don’t know. I don’t know the school district’s numbers. But it just seems to me there has been numerous attempts to rob Peter to pay Paul. ‘Let’s close K-T to beef up Elderton.’ K-T was a good school,” Pyle said.

“It’s not my decision to make, but I will tell you this: It’s not prioritizing as I would have liked,” Pyle said. “I am scared to death of the pension bomb coming. I have been telling every school director who will listen to me to put every cent you can into that.”

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