Report looks at how Wilkinsburg annexation would impact Pittsburgh Public Schools

Proponents of Pittsburgh’s proposed annexation of Wilkinsburg have shared data regarding a potential merger of Wilkinsburg’s schools with Pittsburgh Public Schools, ahead of a final vote on the measure expected within the next two weeks.

Wilkinsburg Community Development Corp., the group that spearheaded the effort to have Wilkinsburg annexed into Pittsburgh, contracted Public Financial Management to evaluate the fiscal impact of merging the school districts. The report appears to show the merger would be financially beneficial to Pittsburgh Public Schools.

Middle and high school students at Wilkinsburg have been attending Pittsburgh Public Schools since 2016. Wilkinsburg School District pays tuition to Pittsburgh’s schools under the agreement, which was renewed in 2021.

The report released Thursday aimed to evaluate the fiscal implications of merging the districts completely, which would happen as a result of an annexation.

“Given the open-ended nature of the process, we have made assumptions about a variety of factors related to a potential merger so we can provide meaningful estimates of its financial impact,” the report said.

The report used data available from the districts’ most recent budgets and the state Department of Education.

The merger would bring a roughly $1 million increase in annual revenue, according to the study.

The report calculated the financial ramifications of joining school districts by assuming that Wilkinsburg’s real estate and earned income taxes would transition to Pittsburgh’s tax rates.

This would result in most Wilkinsburg homeowners paying less overall in school taxes, as the city’s real estate tax is lower than Wilkinsburg’s, though its earned income tax is higher. Renters may pay more in a merger because of higher earned income tax rates.

This data — and additional information — will be presented to Pittsburgh City Council at a post-agenda meeting hosted Wednesday by Councilman Anthony Coghill.

He said public policy experts — including Dean Kaplan and Gordan Mann, the municipal finance experts who helped lead the city out of the state’s Act 47 program for financially distressed municipalities — will present a fiscal analysis of consolidation, a financial analysis of a school district merger and a government comparison.

“City Council has a responsibility to gather all of the facts and make an informed vote based on what will be best for our city residents,” Coghill said. “I look forward to welcoming these experts to the council table for a civil, informative discussion.”

This comes as City Council on Wednesday decided to delay their final vote on the Wilkinsburg annexation by one week.

Council President Theresa Kail-Smith last week introduced legislation that would dismiss the measure. Kail-Smith and other council members said they wanted more information before they could support annexation. When a judge ordered City Council to make a decision, Kail-Smith said they should decline the proposal now and investigate it further on their own terms.

Kail-Smith has said she wants to see data coming from officials who are accountable to the public.

“I just think there are a lot of people who are accountable who need to have those numbers,” Kail-Smith said when she introduced the measure to dismiss the annexation proposal. “If they don’t have those numbers, it makes me very suspicious of the whole process. I want numbers that are authentic from people who will be held accountable to the public.”

Legislation introduced Tuesday would pave the way for City Council to launch a more in-depth investigation of potential mergers or annexations of neighboring municipalities, including Wilkinsburg.