Hermitage school directors sent state lawmakers a message Monday: The state should pay for hikes in the teachers' pension plan and the state seal system for high school diplomas should be abolished.

"We were told that there would not be an increase for 10 years," Director James D. Lumpp said of the state-mandated pension increase for members of the Legislature, state employees and teachers. "Well, they missed. We had an increase in six months."

Though the Legislature initially said that the increase would not affect school districts, the poor economy changed that, the board has said. Now school directors must come up with money in next year's budget to pay for part of the increase. Hermitage's increased contribution is a little more than $260,000.

"We're just asking for the state to help subsidize it, so it doesn't fall to local tax payers," said board President Duane Piccirilli. "But that's where it's going to end up -- with local taxpayers."

If lawmakers had stuck with their original plan and fully subsidized the pension hike, he said, negotiations with the Hermitage Education Association might have progressed differently.

Though the board and the 165-member teachers union are involved in nonbinding final arbitration, the board has stated that the salary issue has been affected by the pension hike. The board is offering a $1,600-a-year wage increase and the HEA wants $2,700 a year.

Piccirilli wouldn't directly say that increased state funding would affect that district's offer.

"If there was another revenue source, that could affect it," he said.

Lumpp said more than 100 school boards statewide have passed similar resolutions. Those include Sharpsville, West Middlesex and Mercer.

He added that more than 200 have passed resolutions asking that the state scrap the state proficiency-test seals on diplomas..

"Diplomas are the combination of 13 years of education, grade after grade, and year after year," said Carol Guerrera, director of administrative Services. "It should not be a reflection of one test on one day."

Eleventh-graders take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment proficiency test in the fall; they must pass reading, writing and arithmetic tests. They receive a seal on their diploma if they pass all three tests in the advanced or proficient range. If they receive a basic or below-basic score, they do not get a seal, but can retest for the seal in the fall of their senior year, Mrs. Guerrera said.

"They take their test as 11th-graders before they finish 11th grade or their senior year course work," she said, adding that those students who pass with a proficient score are not allowed to retake the test their senior year to try to improve their score.

"It (the seal) was to recognize and distinguish advanced students, but it kind of back-fired because they had a penalizing effect on the student," Mrs. Guerrera said. "They are not even national standardized tests. They are tests made up in Pennsylvania, and the state is trying to create a statistical bank to support it."

Though getting a seal is not a graduation requirement in Pennsylvania, it is in other states, and that causes concern, she said, explaining colleges might place more value on them, which in turn could affect students' college admission to scholarships.

"Schools should set the graduation requirements," Mrs. Guerrera said.

The board's resolution states that the district "opposes those ... Regulations that remove significant local control from school districts."