Pennsylvania school district reserve funds are divided into two categories – designated and undesignated. The undesignated funds are not committed to any planned project. Designated funds and any other funds, such as capital reserves, are allocated to specific projects. School districts are required by state law to keep 5 percent of their annual spending in the undesignated reserve funds to preserve bond ratings. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, from 2003 to 2010, as a whole, Pennsylvania school districts amassed nearly $3 billion in reserved funds. By 2013, reserves held by Pennsylvania public school districts, as a whole, had increased to over $3.8 billion. Tuition Students who live in the district's attendance area may choose to attend one of Pennsylvania's 157 public charter schools. A student living in a neighboring public school district or a foreign exchange student may seek admission to Penns Valley Area School District. For these cases, the Pennsylvania Department of Education sets an annual tuition rate for each school district. It is the amount the public school district pays to a charter school for each resident student that attends the charter and it is the amount a nonresident student's parents must pay to attend the district's schools. The 2012 tuition rates are elementary school - $8,223.89, high school - $9,719.99. The Penns Valley Area School District is funded by a combination of: a local earned income tax 1.8%, a property tax, per capita taxes, a real estate transfer tax 0.5%, coupled with substantial funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the federal government. Grants can provide an opportunity to supplement school funding without raising local taxes. Interest earnings on accounts also provide nontax income to the district. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pension income and Social Security income are exempted from state personal income tax and local earned income tax, regardless of the level of the individual's personal wealth. The average Pennsylvania public school teacher pension in 2011 exceeded $60,000 a year plus they receive federal Social Security benefits: both are free of Pennsylvania state income tax and local income tax which funds local public schools. According to a report from Representative Todd Stephens office, Penns Valley Area School District receives 25.7% of its annual revenue from the state. This exceeds some education advocates goal of the state providing 50% of district funding. For the 2015-16 school year, Governor Tom Wolf released a partial Basic Education Funding of $2,393,150 to Penn Valley Area School District, in January 2016. This was part of $10.3 billion in school funding withheld from the public schools, by the Governor since the summer of 2015.