The Upper Perkiomen school board is set to vote next week on withholding payments to the state for both the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (PSERS) and charter schools to protest what members called a "broken system."    

        Vice President Raeann Hofkin said, during a presentation she gave during the Aug. 27 meeting, that she believes passing a resolution similar to one passed by Quakertown School Board in June will push the state toward pension reform.

        That resolution calls for "significant action" by that district if a state budget isn't passed by Sept. 21, the due date for school districts to pay their employer contributions into PSERS.  Lawmakers have been in a budget standoff since June 30.

        And, upon the advice of their legal counsel to define that action, Hofkin says she wants Upper Perk to specify they will hold those payments.  The state would then be forced to take it out of the district's subsidy.

        Upper Perkiomen solicitor Ken Roos warned the board that, in his legal opinion, they would be breaking state law if they withheld PSERS payments more than five days after the state passes their budget.  The Pennsylvania School Board Association also released an opinion last week saying they believe withholding the funds is legal until the districts receive their subsidies to pay their bills.  

        "Now's not the time to ignore the problem and hope it gets better," Hofkin said, citing the rising costs of PSERS.  She presented figures that said for every $4 million the district puts out in payroll, it pays $1 million into the retirement system.  She also said the payments have gone from approximately 2 percent to 8 percent of the district's total budget from 2009-14.

        "How much of our school budget are we going to pay out before we draw a line in the sand?" she asked.  "What they are doing now is just kicking the can down the road.  It's a cycle of failure."

        Hofkin said Schuylkill Valley and Hazelton Area school districts also passed similar resolutions.

        Director Bill Scott disagreed on the effectiveness of passing a resolution.

        "PSERS is a piece of a big puzzle that has to be solved and it includes charter school reform, it includes a new formula or how we're going to pay for education; I think there needs to be reform in special education and until all of those are addressed together and not one piece, we are not solving the problem," he said.  "All we're doing is taking this band-aid and sticking it on the big problem, which is public education funding.  I won't vote for a resolution that doesn't address all of these things."

        "Passing a resolution is awesome but it goes nowhere.  Until there's more of a mass outcry not just by school boards, but by the public, nothing's going to change." 

        "I think the difference here is that I don't ever see it being done," said Director Will Pike, a former teacher at East Penn School District, of massive public education funding reform.  "What can be done is we need a budget.  And if we can move them…if we can stop the impasse and in the process highlight this, the compromise has to be some kind of reform.  If we start with some kind of reform that then could lead to other reform." 

        Upper Perkiomen High School teacher Ernie Quatrani said, while the system needs reform, many educators, like himself, have been paying into it for decades.

        "There are lots of issues that have to come together on why our schools are being shortchanged.  What I am disappointed in tonight is that this workshop was one-sided and that we heard snide remarks about a Democratic governor, teacher unions and specifically salary shaming of a lot of people up on that presentation who gave their life and their blood to this school district and didn't deserve to be singled out as somehow money-grubbing," he said of Hofkin's presentation, which included specific pension payment figures for many former Upper Perkiomen educators and administrators. 

        "We didn't create this problem as teachers…To blame the victims, the teachers, for this crisis is nothing short of cowardly."

        Hofkin maintained she didn't intend to single out teachers; she said legislators were more to blame in creating the crisis which stemmed from a payment holiday in the early 2000's after the PSERS fund was overfunded.

        Members of the public, including two people who identified themselves as residents of Pennridge and Perkiomen Valley school districts, applauded the board for taking on reform.

        "I'd like to commend this board for even having a public discussion and having courage because our board publicly, at least, refuses to address this," one said.  "I encourage you to do something because it affects everyone." 

         Those sentiments were echoed by Pennsburg Mayor Vicki Lightcap and Pennsburg resident Keith McCarrick, who urged the board to do something before the retirement system goes "belly up." 

        "I strongly encourage you all to do something," McCarrick said.  "Taking no action is getting us nowhere." 

        The board also discussed briefly withholding 30 percent of charter school funds, required by state law, until the state budget is passed.  Both resolutions will be up for a vote at the Sept. 10 board meeting.