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<p>An external review of the Wilkes-Barre Area School District&#8217;s finances determined that the district&#8217;s own dire projections of a $29 million deficit in five years was optimistic.</p><p>The new estimate, calculated by The PFM Group under contract with the state Department of Education, doubled the red ink: $70 million in the hole by 2020-21. And that assumed no new borrowing, despite the need for extensive repairs to high school buildings estimated well in excess of $100 million.</p><p>The discrepancy is hardly a surprise. When Wilkes-Barre Area released its internal figures, Business Manager Leonard Przywara <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/local/500392/busting-a-budget-wilkes-barre-area-school-district-projections-show-chronic-deficits" target="_blank">admitted during a December meeting</a> that key assumptions made the district&#8217;s numbers conservative. In particular, the district data assumed no pay raises or increases in health insurance costs.</p><p>While some critics blasted the district for unrealistic calculations, the fact that this conservative prognostication <em>still</em> showed the district becoming insolvent was alarm enough. Metaphorically, do you sleep better knowing the hole in your house is big enough for a single semi-trailer truck to drive through but not big enough to accommodate side-by side rigs?</p><p>Assigning blame for this crisis will serve great purpose, but is not the priority. It seems much more important to a) make sure the crisis is real and b) come together to plot a way to solvency, fast.</p><p>Barring dramatic discovery of error, it should be safe to trust that, when both an internal and external review say the district budget is swirling around the drain, the crisis is real and we should move on to step two.</p><p>At a <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/526488/w-b-area-unveils-state-review-of-district-finances" target="_blank">public unveiling of its report</a>, PFM Managing Director Dean Kaplan made it clear that the district cannot fix this by raising taxes only, or solely through spending cuts. A mix of both is needed, he insisted.</p><p>To prove they mean business, administrators and staff alike should agree to immediate and real pay freezes (not deferrals). Cuts would be better, though harder to accomplish. But something must be cut, even if it isn&#8217;t salaries, and it must be more than window dressing. It also should happen now, not waiting for the 2016-17 budget. Unneeded district property should be sold.</p><p>If those actions are taken to prove the district acknowledges the immediate danger, the next step would be a real dialogue with taxpayers &#8211; on construction and renovation, on grade configuration, on the amount of borrowing needed, and on the tax increases necessary to cover it all.</p><p>The path to a district not only solvent but able to help all students achieve their potentials must be clear enough and believable enough that taxpayers would support it through a referendum on any new debt.</p><p>And lastly, the plan should be so deeply etched into the institution and public expectation that no future board could derail it with the flip of a single vote.</p><p>Failure to take this or a similar course of action would mean the district and the school board either don&#8217;t believe the threat is real, or don&#8217;t care.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Based on a recent projection, Wilkes-Barre Area School District could be swimming in $70 million of red ink in another five years. Dean Kaplan, managing director of financial consultant PFM Group, recently advised district officials to pursue a strategy that involves both tax increases and spending cuts. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Deficit.cmyk_.jpg</photo0><caption0>Based on a recent projection, Wilkes-Barre Area School District could be swimming in $70 million of red ink in another five years. Dean Kaplan, managing director of financial consultant PFM Group, recently advised district officials to pursue a strategy that involves both tax increases and spending cuts. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>

Our Opinion: Looming $70M deficit in Wilkes-Barre Area School District calls for rapid response