POTTSTOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT

The Pottstown School District serves the residents of Pottstown Borough.  It has more than 600 employees.  Its 2009-2010 budget is $53.4 million.

Enrollment in the school district peaked in the 1960s, when it accommodated about 5,000 students.  Enrollment declined in the 1970s and early 1980s, when the district closed two elementary schools and one of its two junior high schools. For the last 20 years, enrollment has been fairly stable at about 3,200 students.  The district currently operates five elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school.

Spending Outpaces Inflation
In recent times, school district spending has far outpaced inflation.  In the last 15 years, the school district’s budget has risen 140 percent, from $22.3 million to $53.4 million, while the rate of inflation during that period was 45.7 percent.  (The district had about the same number of students 15 years ago as it does today.)

Personnel expands dramatically
The expansion of personnel in recent decades has been even more dramatic.

In the 1977-78 school year, the district employed 423 people serving 4,012 students.
Thirty years later, in the 2007-2008 school year, the district employed 591 people serving just 3,217 students.

Therefore, as enrollment decreased by 20 percent, the number of employees increased by 40 percent.  And 30 years ago, the school district operated the Pottstown Parks and Recreation Department.  Today, the borough government funds and operates the Parks and Recreation Department.

1977-1978 employee/student ratio: 1 employee to 9.5 students
2007-2008 employee/student ratio: 1 employee to 5.5 students

For a list of employees in 1977-1978 and their job titles compared to 2007-2008, click here.

Pottstown ranks 11th out of 501 districts in taxation
Generous spending makes Pottstown one of the most highly taxed school districts in Pennsylvania.  According to state data for the 2007-2008 school year (the latest available), Pottstown ranked 11 out of 501 school districts in “local tax effort.”  That means Pottstown’s taxes are higher than 97 percent of the school districts in the Commonwealth.*

*For financial data for Pennsylvania school districts on the Pennsylvania Department of Education Web site, do the following:
            Go to Pennsylvania Department of Education Web site:
            → Click on Pre K-12 Schools
            → Click on Finances
            → Click on Financial Data Elements
            → Click on Miscellaneous, 2007-2008 Selected Data, Ranked
          Column J shows the ranking of each school district in Pennsylvania by “local tax effort.”