Bad comparison
A recent letter writer complains that the Williamsport Area School District budget is $80,926,986. I wondered whether this figure was abnormally high. For perspective, I researched the school budgets for the two largest cities in the nation. The Los Angeles Unified School District costs taxpayers $7.3 billion. The New York City school district is highest in the nation at $24 billion.
For another perspective, I researched the budget for cities similar in size to WASD. Scranton seems to have a larger enrollment but has a much higher budget at $120.4 million. Altoona School District, closer in size to WASD, is at $89,315,534. Kovich invited his audience to research the budgets of other countries in his complaint of the Williamsport School District funding.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to compare the budget of Williamsport to European socialist countries or China and Russia. Mayor Gabriel Campana worked for the WASD for a number of years. I have a feeling that he is more knowledgeable about the school district’s budgetary problems than myself, Mr. Kovich and a majority of the residents of Lycoming County.
Michael Shulski
Williamsport
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom