Schools divided on taking money from slots

While the state Supreme Court decides whether the act that legalized slot machines was lawfully constructed and passed last summer, the clock continues to tick against school boards wrestling with the idea of using money generated by those slots to fund their schools.

According to a Pennsylvania School Boards Association survey released Thursday, about one in three districts are considering opting into Act 72. About one-third of the districts indicated that they will not participate in Act 72, and one-third are undecided.

Act 72 is the law that allows districts to grant property-tax relief through the use of slots revenue and a 0.1 percent increase in the local earned income tax.

But school boards must decide by May 30 whether to opt into Act 72. If school boards decide against it, they can never opt in, according to the law.

However, slots parlors aren't built, and the first revenues aren't expected to be ready for distribution until 2007 at the earliest.

Only about half of the state's 501 school districts responded to the school boards association survey.

"The outcome of this survey shows that school directors are deeply concerned with making the best decision for students and residents regarding Act 72," Thomas Gentzel, executive director of the school boards association, said in a written statement.

That has proven to be the case locally, as school boards have held public presentations explaining the intricacies of Act 72.

Thus far, only four school districts -- Austin Area, Central Dauphin, Charleroi and Gateway -- have voted to participate in Act 72, according to the school boards association.

In two other districts -- Bethlehem and State College -- advisory committees have recommended to their school boards against participating.

Meanwhile, all this might be for naught.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing considerations from slots opponents arguing that lawmakers violated the state constitution by transforming a one-page statute into a 145-page bill that created a gambling industry.

It was unknown when the court would rule on the case.