Towanda School Board Approves $230K in Budget Cuts (PA)
May 11, 2010
The Towanda Area School Board on Monday approved a proposed final $23.4 million school budget for the 2010-11 school year that eliminates the driver education program at the high school, two special education staff positions and a custodial position.
While the budget includes $230,215 in cuts that were approved by the school board on Monday, at this point there remains a $288,878 funding shortfall in the budget, Towanda School Board President Peggi Munkittrick said. The school board will need to close the funding gap in the budget by the time it passes a final school budget, which is scheduled to take place at the board’s June 14 meeting, she said.
"The board needs to decide how to close the gap," Munkittrick said at the meeting, which was attended by 35 people, including teachers, students, parents and other members of the public. "There could be a tax increase (to close the gap) or the gap could be closed with further cuts."
However, school board Vice-president Pete Alesky warned that the funding gap could be even larger than $288,878. That’s because the Towanda School District is counting on a $616,209 increase in its basic education subsidy from the state to help pay for its budget for 2010-11 school year, when in fact the increase in the basic eduction subsidy could be much less than that, Alesky said.
The $616,209 increase in the basic education subsidy is based on the amount of education funding that would be provided to the school district under Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposed state budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year. However, the Legislature may provide less education funding than Rendell has proposed because the state itself is facing a large budget shortfall this year, Alesky said.
Many of the people who attended Monday’s school board meeting told the school board that they did not want to see cuts to athletic activities and other extracurric ular activities.
"Study after study shows that participating in extracurricular activities and sports and non-mandated programs make a difference," Towanda Area Education Association President Phyllis McNeal told the school board. "They make a huge difference in our learning at school and the standardized tests by which the school district is judged."
A petition was presented to the school board on Monday which was signed by about 100 people and which asked that cuts to arts programs and band not be made.
A few people at the meeting told the school board they were relieved that the board has not, so far, made extensive cuts to extracurricular activities.
While the school board has not yet decided how it will close the remaining funding gap in the budget, it is considering raising the school district’s property tax and also, possibly, the school occupation tax.
Earlier this year, the school board passed a resolution that requires it to limit any tax increase for the 2010-11 school year to 4.1 percent.
A 4.1 percent increase in the school district’s property tax would bring in an additional $290,897 in revenue to the school district and erase the remaining $288,878 budget shortfall, Towanda school officials said.
A 4.1 percent increase in the school occupation tax would bring in an additional $13,569 in revenue to the school district next year, Towanda School District Business Manager Doreen Secor said.
A 4.1 percent increase in the property tax would raise the school district’s real estate millage from 37.15 mills to 38.68 mils. The owner of a house whose assessed value is $32,950 would see his annual property tax bill increase by $50.08, if a 4.1 percent increase in the property tax were imposed, Secor said.
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The median assessed value of a home in the Towanda School District is $32,950, Secor said.
In Bradford County, homes are assessed at half their market value.
James Wojcak, the director of special education services for the Towanda School District, said the cuts in special education staff positions will be achieved by not replacing two staff are retiring this year.
Students who were served by those teachers will be re-assigned to other special education teachers in the district or will receive services from Intermediate Unit 17, he said.
According to the school district’s administration, there has been a decline in the number of students needing the services of one of the positions that will be cut, which is an emotional support position at the elementary school level.
Wojcak said that special education students will not be hurt by the cuts.
The school board voted 7-2 on Monday to accept the $230,215 in budget cuts, with David Rice and Evelyn Sherburne voting "nay."
Sherburne said she was concerned because the cuts would result in a scaling back of a new, planned after-school program at the elementary school level, which would provide academic tutoring.
But school board member Susan Portnoff said school officials could approach the Towanda Area Education Foundation for funding so that the after-school program would not have to be scaled back.
The vote to approve the proposed final budget was 8-1 with Rice casting the "nay" vote.