Local school officials aren't quite sure what to make of Gov. Tom Corbett's new education budget.

On the face of it, the 2012-13 spending plan appears to boost basic education funding statewide by about $22 million and would send nearly $230 million in state dollars to the 17 school districts enrolling Lancaster County students.

But local school officials said it's too soon to tell whether their schools will come out ahead under the governor's proposal, which was unveiled Tuesday during his 2012-13 budget address.

Education funding categories in the new budget have changed from this year's spending plan, with formerly separate pools of money combined into a new "student achievement education block grant."

In addition, the accountability block grant program, a $100 million line item in this year's budget that helped pay for kindergarten classes, has disappeared entirely from the 2012-13 budget proposal.

That makes it difficult to compare what Corbett has proposed in state aid for the next school year with this year's funding, school officials said.

But they agreed the new budget is less of a shock than the 2011-12 state spending plan, which slashed funding to county schools by about $21 million and cut aid statewide by about $870 million.

"I don't see huge cuts that will cause us to raise taxes or trim more than we're trimming already," Michael Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District, said of Corbett's proposal.

"The budget will not have an adverse impact on programs or taxpayers for 2012-13."

Penn Manor business manager Chris Johnston estimated the district will get slightly more than the $13.3 million in state funding it anticipated in its 2012-13 preliminary budget.

Exactly how much more he couldn't say.

That modest boost is "short-term good news" for Penn Manor, which saw its state aid drop by about $1.6 million in 2011-12, Leichliter said.

Under Corbett's proposal, county schools would get $192.8 million in student achievement education block grants next school year, along with $36.9 million in special-education funds.

The special-education allocation has not increased, a sore point for school districts struggling with rising costs in that area.

Solanco superintendent Martin Hudacs estimated his district will get about $100,000 less in state aid than it's receiving this year as a result of changes in the way transportation funding is determined under the new budget.

Previously, transportation funds were provided under a separate line-item subsidy, but for 2012-13 Corbett has included those funds, along with employee Social Security payments, in the new category of student achievement education block grants.

That new funding mechanism shortchanged Solanco — the largest district geographically in the county — of crucial transportation money, Hudacs said.

"A hundred thousand dollars is two teachers," he said. "Unfortunately, we're at the point where you're looking at the impact of budget cuts to classrooms."

Conestoga Valley School District will likely get a modest $63,000 boost in state funding next year under Corbett's proposal, superintendent Gerald Huesken said.

"I think the good news is that (Corbett) is keeping the funding level," he said. "We have to wait and see what the details are, but right now it's encouraging."

Hempfield superintendent Brenda Becker said she was pleased to see the governor has included adequate funding for the massive increase in employee pension costs school districts and the state face in the coming year.

That line item had the biggest year-to-year increase — $315.8 million or 52.6 percent — in the spending plan.

County districts expect to pay about $8 million more for pensions in 2012-13 as a result of a 42 percent increase in mandated payments into the system. School districts and the state split the cost of the contributions.

Becker said it appears Corbett's budget would provide roughly the same amount of funding that Hempfield included in its preliminary 2012-13 budget.

That still will leave the district with a projected revenue gap of about $4.4 million, she said.

Officials at School District of Lancaster, Eastern Lancaster County and other districts said they needed more time to pore over the numbers before they could comment on the budget.

Other highlights of the spending plan include:

• A 5 percent decrease in funding for Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental programs.

Pre-K Counts would drop from $82.8 million to $78.6 million, and Head Start would decline from $37.3 million to $35.4 million.

• $15.4 million for implementation of Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement.

The proposal reduces the number of exams to three — in biology, literature and Algebra I — and delays full implementation by two years, meaning members of the Class of 2017 would be the first students required to pass the exams to earn a diploma.

• $3.7 million to develop and implement a new teacher and principal evaluation system that includes multiple measures of student achievement.

• $471,000 to develop and implement a new accountability system to assess public school schools, including career and technical centers and charter and cybercharter schools.

bwallace@lnpnews.com