Pleasant Valley School District Superintendent Carole Geary and Delaware Valley School District Superintendent John Bell testified at the Basic Education Funding Commission public hearing on funding issues on Thursday.

Geary said Pleasant Valley and Delaware Valley fall into a group of school districts that needed to respond to sharply increasing enrollment after 9/11 and a distinct decrease in enrollment triggered by the recession.Pleasant Valley is one of 158 districts that received foundation supplements that were added to the Basic Education Funding base, and a state-commissioned study provided supplements as a result of Pleasant Valley's low cost per pupil that resulted in an additional $1.8 million to the district. That amounted to $4,802,097."The effects of removing this money moving forward would be equally devastating to Pleasant Valley," Geary testified.She asked the commission to commit to a hold-harmless pledge so Pleasant Valley would not become an unintended victim of the commission's "good intentions."She told the commission that 85.9 percent of the community's assessed value comes from residential sources, with only 5.2 percent from commercial or industrial sources. As for personal incomes, Pleasant Valley ranks 39th from the bottom of PA's 500 school districts for personal income per student.Area school districts are in the bottom 10 percent in the state for personal income aid ratio.She told the commission that Pleasant Valley has an adequate fund balance that the district has tapped into for the past two years to maintain a stable path for the community but says it can only do that so long.To help mitigate tax increases, the district has eliminated staff, from 501-399; closed three school buildings; sold buildings; rented out facilities; and has curtailed programs, stating that while that may have been painful, it kept students and their future as its focus.She told the commission she was confident it would do the same as it develops a sound funding formula for the commonwealth.