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<p>KINGSTON &#8212; Luzerne Intermediate Unit&#8217;s Executive Director Anthony Grieco is concerned about the effect the state budget impasse will have on its member school districts, especially if that impasse continues into next year.</p><p>Referencing a meeting held Monday night and organized by Northwest School District, Grieco said schools are especially reluctant to begin consideration of their 2016-17 school year budgets when their 2015-16 budgets have not yet been fully resolved.</p><p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t know what monies we are getting from the state as we move forward and it is unsettling,&#8221; said Grieco. &#8220;It&#8217;s not fair to the districts or the students.&#8221;</p><p>Grieco said the LIU&#8217;s 12-member school districts will be impacted by the lack of timely funding, as would the intermediate unit.</p><p>&#8220;Our funding is federal,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But it needs to pass through the state and that has not yet happened.&#8221;</p><p>According to Grieco, the intermediate unit does have a line of credit available should it be needed.</p><p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t had to tap into it yet,&#8221; he said of that credit line. &#8220;And that&#8217;s good, because then you get into accruing interest, using funds for interest that would be best served in directly serving students.&#8221;</p><p>Although the federal monies have not &#8220;passed through&#8221; to the LIU, expenses will continue, Grieco said.</p><p>&#8220;For example, money earmarked for transportation has not yet been received, but we need to continue to pay our vendors,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Grieco acknowledges the intent of Gov. Tom Wolf and his administration is to provide adequate funding for social services and education.</p><p>In the meantime, though, he said many districts are placed in dire financial straits.</p><p>&#8220;Northwest has seriously discussed closing its doors,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They have said they are funded only through the end of January.&#8221;</p><p>Attorney Angela Evans, of Sweet, Stevens, Katz &amp; Williams, LLP, advised districts to make every effort to avoid having to close schools.</p><p>Grieco hopes Pennsylvania will, consistent with its constitution, fund 50 percent of the budget of local school districts.</p><p>&#8220;It would shift the burden from local taxpayers to the state,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Representatives of Northwest Area, Wyoming Area, Lake-Lehman, Crestwood, Wilkes-Barre Area, Hazleton Area and Benton school districts gathered for the meeting, ultimately saying they are waiting for movement from the state toward resolution of the budget.</p><p>Although some school district representatives are willing to work with a stop gap budget, all hope the impasse is resolved and they can get back to the work of educating students.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Grieco </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_grieco.jpg</photo0><caption0>Grieco </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Geri Gibbons</p><p>ggibbons@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Geri Gibbons at 570-991-6117 or on Twitter @TLGGibbons</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne Intermediate Unit member district representatives express concern over state budget impasse