HARRISBURG, Pa.—A $300-million-a-year state program that helps school districts pay to construct or renovate buildings will soon be closed to new projects, at least temporarily, as state officials decide whether it needs to be changed or eliminated.

Some districts are rushing to get their plans into the pipeline before the October start of a nine-month moratorium that was quietly enacted along with the state budget earlier this summer.

School districts already under financial pressure from growing pension obligations and state funding cuts are concerned that the moratorium could be the first step toward the reimbursement's eventual elimination.

The moratorium was first proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett earlier this year. His Education Department says the process is being reviewed, and everything's on the table, including the possibility of shutting down the program.