Panther Valley's superintendent is frustrated with the latest round of spin in the seemingly never-ending state budget saga.

Throughout the stalemate, Dennis Kergick provided an update on the state budget for school board members.At the board's April meeting, Kergick criticized Republican lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf for using press releases to try to convince districts still reeling from the budget crisis that their plan is the best.He said that as of last Thursday, the district had no information about how much it would be receiving under the budget that Wolf agreed not to veto last month."The blame game has once again become part of the news cycle, and it will probably become worse before it gets better," he said.Like all schools, Panther Valley has been paying close attention to Harrisburg's negotiations over the 2015-16 state budget, while simultaneously preparing their 2016-17 budgets with little to go on. This latest round of budget talks started on March 27 when Wolf said he would not veto the Republicans' spending plan, clearing the way for districts to get their essential state funding.The other shoe dropped a few days later when it became clear that Wolf would attempt to influence the budget through another piece of legislation - the "fiscal code" bill that determines how the state's Basic Education Funding is split before the 500-plus school districts in the state.Kergick cited a press release issued by Sen. David Argall on April 12, decrying Wolf's plan to use the fiscal code bill to shift money away from local school districts, and to the School District of Philadelphia.In the press release, Argall pointed out that the Republicans' budget has an additional $100 million for education over last year. But Argall wrote that Wolf favors a plan that 86 percent of school districts in the state would receive less funding under the plan, and Panther Valley would lose $96,000.Kergick also cited another release, issued two days later, from Wolf's office.Wolf said that the math used by Republicans like Argall fails to consider the Legislature stripped a total of $1 billion of funding in 2011, disproportionately affecting poorer districts, that has never been restored.Both statements came before Panther Valley received a definitive answer from the state on how much funding they would receive for 2015-16."This only feeds into the confusion factor and further demonstrates a need for clarity in notifying school districts of the intended release of funds. We certainly cannot operate on IOUs, unsubstantiated rumors, or press releases that tend to portray one side as the bad guy," Kergick said.Kergick did have some positive things to say about Harrisburg.He praised a senator from Lancaster County who has proposed creating a fund to stabilize schools during state budget disputes.Under the proposal, if the state does not pass a budget by Aug. 15, schools would get their scheduled Basic Education Funding payments at the previous year's levels.