Local school officials are suffering from yet another financial headache caused by the state — and this time it deals with getting reimbursed for school construction and renovation projects.

Gov. Tom Wolf recently vetoed the state’s fiscal code that serves as a guide for spending state funds, which Senate Republicans say eliminates $289 million that would have been earmarked for reimbursements for school construction and renovation projects. What’s more, Wolf’s move puts a hold on $150 million in additional school funding, Republican lawmakers say.

“The conversation needs to be about funds that directly benefit our students,” Otto-Eldred School District Superintendent Matt Splain told The Era on Tuesday. “Otto-Eldred is already owed well over a half-million dollars in PlanCon (Planning and Construction Workbook) reimbursement. We have facility repairs that need to be made.”

Delaying much-needed work will mean increased costs for taxpayers, Splain said, adding the state must figure out an acceptable method to meet the obligations to the districts.

Elsewhere in McKean County, Kane Area School District Business Manager Steve Perry said Wolf’s choice to veto the fiscal code and to nix PlanCon funding could result in the district losing an approximately $300,000 reimbursement for the annual debt service payment of $960,000.

“The district entered into a building project in 2008-09 with the understanding that these reimbursements would be guaranteed throughout the life of the bonds. Unfortunately, with this veto, that agreement has been breached,” he said.

For his part, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Brockway, said the schools and many critical programs throughout the state are deserving of the state dollars.

“It is disingenuous for Governor Wolf to continuously claim that he is fighting for more money for education, when in reality he is preventing increased funding passed by the Senate and House of Representatives from reaching the school districts that so desperately need it,” he said.

However, Wolf’s spokesman J.J. Abbott said state dollars would be distributed to schools and other programs in a “timely manner.”

At the same time, he said that, “This budget underfunds important services that protect the safety and health of Pennsylvanians by another $238 million, and as a result of Republican smoke and mirrors, we believe it remains $290 million out of balance. The administration cannot go out to the market for more debt, even for school construction, with such significant fiscal challenges of the unaddressed structural deficit.”

But without the fiscal code in place, Senate Republicans say the budget specifically lays out that new dollars cannot be doled out.

In his view, Rep. Matt Baker, R-Wellsboro, said he knows that school districts throughout the state have been waiting on PlanCon funding for a long time, and that much of the fiscal code funding dealt with reimbursement for school construction and renovation improvements.

Once again, Rep. Martin Causer, R-Turtlepoint, said that Wolf has demonstrated that he is willing to place his tax-and-spend agenda over the students and schools.

“By vetoing the fiscal code, the governor has essentially frozen hundreds of millions of dollars that should be going to our schools to educate our kids and help with school construction costs,” Causer said. “The governor has consistently said he believes our schools need more money, and yet he seems to be doing everything he can to withhold the money that’s been allotted to them. It simply doesn’t make sense.”

Splain shared similar thoughts.

“The Campaign for Fair Education Funding has been working for over a year on the adoption of a funding formula that works for Pennsylvania’s students,” he said.

For far too long, Splain said, the state has underfunded students.

Next week, the House and Senate will return to session, and lawmakers say they will be reviewing methods needed to deal with the impacts of the fiscal code veto.

Several local school district officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story by press time Tuesday night.