Pittsburgh Public Schools continued to chip away at its shrinking reserve fund with the passage of a $754 million budget Wednesday evening.

The PPS board voted 8-1 for the 2025 spending plan that will draw slightly more than $28 million from its reserve fund to bridge a gap between spending and revenues.

Jamie Piotrowski of District 7 supplied the dissenting vote, referring to an ongoing diversion of the district’s share of earned income tax to the city that began when Pittsburgh joined the state’s Act 47 financial distress program in 2003. Pittsburgh left the program in 2018, and, Piotrowksi argued, it should no longer claim the 0.25% share of earned income tax originally earmarked for PPS.

“When the city entered Act 47 in 2003, I was in the sixth grade,” Piotrowski said. “At this point I think the district and this board needs to be more aggressive on the matter in any way we can.”

“With that $25 million [now diverted to the city] … we actually would have a surplus this year,” Piotrowski added.

As enrollment shrinks and costs rise, PPS officials have talked frequently of a looming budget crisis. By 2027, the district could be facing a nearly $20 million fund balance deficit, according to an analysis from last year.

Gene Walker, board chair, said he shared Piotrowski’s concerns but pointed to a steady property tax rate and the district’s lack of immediate options in lending his support to the budget.

“The root cause of lots of our issues are not and should not be burdened on our taxpayers without us actually taking the time to determine a fix for some of these problems,” he said.

During a public hearing last week, members of the public criticized the budget for cuts made to special education, ESL staffing and summer learning programs. The district spent much of this year working with consultants on a school consolidation plan, but has opted not to close any buildings during the 2025-26 school year.

Contracts approved

Also during the Dec. 18 meeting, the board unanimously approved four-year contracts for teachers, paraprofessionals and technical-clerical employees.

Board Member Devon Taliaferro, of District 2, hailed the new agreements as a success born of good faith shown by all parties.

“I’m glad we were able to come to an agreement that will best support the outcomes for our students,” she said.

Jamie Wiggan is deputy editor at PublicSource. He can be reached at jamie@publicsource.org.

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Update: PPS eats into rainy day funds with $750 million 2025 budget approval

by Jamie Wiggan, Pittsburgh's Public Source
December 18, 2024

<h1>Update: PPS eats into rainy day funds with $750 million 2025 budget approval</h1> <p class="byline">by Jamie Wiggan, Pittsburgh's Public Source <br />December 18, 2024</p> <p>Pittsburgh Public Schools continued to chip away at its shrinking reserve fund with the passage of a $754 million budget Wednesday evening.</p> <p>The PPS board voted 8-1 for the 2025 spending plan that will draw slightly more than $28 million from its reserve fund to bridge a gap between spending and revenues.</p> <p>Jamie Piotrowski of District 7 supplied the dissenting vote, referring to an ongoing diversion of the district’s share of earned income tax to the city that began when Pittsburgh joined the state’s Act 47 financial distress program in 2003. Pittsburgh left the program in 2018, and, Piotrowksi argued, it should no longer claim the 0.25% share of earned income tax originally earmarked for PPS.</p> <p>“When the city entered Act 47 in 2003, I was in the sixth grade,” Piotrowski said. “At this point I think the district and this board needs to be more aggressive on the matter in any way we can.”</p> <p>“With that $25 million [now diverted to the city] … we actually would have a surplus this year,” Piotrowski added.</p> <p>As enrollment shrinks and costs rise, PPS officials have talked frequently of a looming budget crisis. By 2027, the district could be facing a nearly $20 million fund balance deficit, according to an analysis from last year.</p> <p>Gene Walker, board chair, said he shared Piotrowski’s concerns but pointed to a steady property tax rate and the district’s lack of immediate options in lending his support to the budget.</p> <p>“The root cause of lots of our issues are not and should not be burdened on our taxpayers without us actually taking the time to determine a fix for some of these problems,” he said.</p> <p>During a <a href="https://www.publicsource.org/pps-pittsburgh-2025-budget-proposal-summer-programming-esl-staffing/">public hearing last week</a>, members of the public criticized the budget for cuts made to special education, ESL staffing and summer learning programs. The district spent much of this year working with consultants on a school consolidation plan, but has opted not to close any buildings during the 2025-26 school year.</p> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Contracts approved</strong></h2> <p>Also during the Dec. 18 meeting, the board unanimously approved four-year contracts for teachers, paraprofessionals and technical-clerical employees.</p> <p>Board Member Devon Taliaferro, of District 2, hailed the new agreements as a success born of good faith shown by all parties.</p> <p>“I’m glad we were able to come to an agreement that will best support the outcomes for our students,” she said.</p> <p><em>Jamie Wiggan is deputy editor at PublicSource. He can be reached at jamie@publicsource.org.</em></p></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-public-schools-board-2025-budget-deficit-vote/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org&quot;&gt;Pittsburgh&#039;s Public Source&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-ps_circle_favicon_blue.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=1314077&amp;amp;ga4=G-CCLXQK5C14&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-public-schools-board-2025-budget-deficit-vote/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/publicsource.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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