Ciresi sponsors bill to extend budget deadlines for school districts

HARRISBURG, May 4 – State Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery, today announced that he is sponsoring H.B. 2482, which would extend the deadline for school districts to pass their annual budgets past the state-mandated July 1 deadline. The bill was introduced with a bipartisan group of 26 legislators signed on as co-sponsors.

“With the new challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts have had to adjust to new ways of conducting public business while maintaining social distancing,” Ciresi said. “Given this disruption to budget timelines and new obstacles to public participation, school districts deserve more flexibility from the state-mandated deadline. In the best interests of our students, teachers and the community as a whole, we need to make sure that our school districts have the time to pass funded and vetted budgets that allow for public input and are inclusive of taxpayer voices.”

Several federal and state deadlines already have been extended in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the bill, deadline extensions would be granted by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

For more information on the bill, those interested can contact Ciresi’s office at (484) 200-8265.

###