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SMGG Attorneys Support Public Education

SMGG Attorneys Harry F. Kunselman and Alan T. Shuckrow

No matter which high school wins Saturday night's WPIAL Class AAAA football championship at Heinz Field, neither one looks much like a loser.

Upper St. Clair and North Allegheny are at the top of Pennsylvania's academically elite public school districts with dominant standardized math, reading, science and writing test scores, comfortable class sizes, negligible dropout rates and affluent communities.

But school board members from the two Allegheny County districts worry that maintaining or deepening cuts to state education subsidies could jeopardize their off-field statistics, make property tax increases unavoidable and endanger extracurricular activities.

"I really feel for school districts that aren't as well off as Upper St. Clair and NA," said Harry Kunselman, president of Upper St. Clair's school board. "But when you have even the most well-oiled machines looking at deficits and structural issues like this, there are fundamental issues that need to be dealt with in Harrisburg. If they're not, our kids won't be prepared for jobs in the new economy."

The football matchup is symbolic of how academic excellence and athletic prowess can coexist in Western Pennsylvania, where high school football games are can't-miss events and championships often attract more than 20,000 fans to the North Shore.

"When you watch this football game, you're watching kids who excel in all aspects of their lives," said Bob Bozzuto, North Allegheny's athletic director, noting the district's 3,100 student athletes have an average grade-point average of 3.65.

Upper St. Clair is weighing a tax increase of up to 0.82 of a mill next year, a $164 bump for a $200,000 house, which still would leave the district with a $1.5 million deficit. North Allegheny increased taxes by 0.52 of a mill in June, or about $104 on a $200,000 house.

Kunselman said he feels hamstrung by state laws that prohibit laying off teachers because of financial troubles, and by required pension contributions that could quadruple from 5.6 percent of payroll now to 23.6 percent in 2015-16.

"Our fund balance could conceivably be wiped out within a couple of school years," he said.

It's a more dire story among the four small schools playing for the Class A and Class AA championships. State funding cuts combined with wilting tax bases and falling enrollment could one day shutter one or more of the schools, administrators say. Clairton will play Sto-Rox in the Class A game; Aliquippa and Jeannette will vie for the Class AA title.

North Allegheny administrators outlined options to raise money, including selling naming rights on school property, beefing up alumni fundraising, increasing class sizes and starting a cyber charter or magnet school for science and math to attract students and revenue, said Alan Shuckrow, vice president of the district's board.

They discussed cutting extracurricular activities such as elementary band and orchestra.

Since April, an online petition titled "Keep Music in NA" collected more than 1,500 names of people opposed to cuts, which the board avoided. It will offer an early retirement incentive to teachers next year and might not replace some who take it.

"I think the fear here is that ultimately, if the financial pressures are not addressed in some way, the schools that are now providing the comprehensive opportunities like NA and Upper St. Clair are not going to be able to do so anymore," Shuckrow said.

Kunselman and Shuckrow are attorneys at the Downtown firm Strassburger McKenna Gutnick & Gefsky. The colleagues made a friendly wager of $250 apiece on the outcome of tonight's game. The winner will give the $500 to his school's education foundation.

"Although $500 is not going to make up for state budget cuts, it sends a message that funding for successful programs is important," Shuckrow said.

The 2011-12 state budget slashed more than $900 million from K-12 education, a reduction that helped close a $4.2 billion budget deficit but angered education advocates.

"If even NA and Upper St. Clair are feeling the impact of these cuts, you can only imagine how harmful they are to other districts," said David Broderick, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

State Rep. Bill Kortz, D-Dravosburg, said North Allegheny and Upper St. Clair don't need as much state assistance because of their affluence.

"They have a better tax base. They have the wherewithal to pay for the programs and extracurricular activities for their kids if they want to," said Kortz, who used Upper St. Clair in public presentations as his example of a wealthy school enjoying smaller state funding cuts.

Kortz is trying to organize districts including Clairton, West Mifflin and Duquesne to sue the state to reverse the budget cuts to education.

The state does not dedicate enough money to education overall, regardless of the district, said Joseph Bard, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for Rural and Small Schools, which represents 190 districts, but not North Allegheny or Upper St. Clair.

"What happened last (fiscal) year, I think, is only a glimpse of what's coming this year. I don't expect any new money from the state," he said.

Upper St. Clair Superintendent Patrick O'Toole said it's unclear how the district's offerings could change next year.

"We might not be able to offer the same elective programs. We might have to raise class size," he said. "We've already made cuts to field trips and other extras. We've instituted registration fees for athletics. We're so proud of our arts and athletics programs, but we have to be able to protect our core academic disciplines."