Weatherly Area ponders budget options to fill $1M void

June 06--With a June 30 deadline for final adoption of next year's budget, and a shortfall of more than $1 million, the Weatherly Area school board is facing some tough decisions.

At the conclusion of an hour-long budget meeting Wednesday, district Business Manager David Marsiglio said he would prepare three different versions of a budget proposal -- each with a different level of enabling taxation. The board of directors will vote on the tax level of their choice on June 11.

The first option would include no increase in taxes; the second would increase taxes one-half mill; the third would include a 1-mill tax increase.

According to Marsiglio, the district has a fund balance of about $4 million, which could be tapped to cover the deficit, but once the fund balance is gone, it's gone, he said.

"Some of you might look at that fund balance and say, 'Wow, you guys are flush.' But look at how quickly that changes," Marsiglio said as he illustrated deductions including the budget deficit and a previously approved cash infusion into the district health care account, which quickly reduced the fund balance to $3.27 million.

"If we insist on not making any changes to our spending habits, we could come back here next June and that fund balance could be down to $1 million," Marsiglio said.

"The more money we eat now, the less we are going to have later," he warned.

Director Amy Potsko also noted that $2.6 million of the fund balance is already earmarked for various district obligations, which leaves an even smaller portion of the fund available to shore up the budget.

About 30 district teachers, instructional aides and parents attended the board's monthly caucus meeting, which was held prior to the budget meeting. Several audience members addressed the directors on a rumored plan to eliminate one or more Title I instructional aides as a means to reduce district expenses.

Title I is a federal program that directs funding to educational programs aimed at improving the reading, writing and math abilities of children at risk of failure.

As Title I funding decreased over the last few years, some districts are considering elimination of the personnel whose salaries are funded with those dwindling federal dollars.

In the past, the district employed six Title I aides -- one for each grade from kindergarten through fifth grade. Two of those aides were eliminated last year due to dwindling federal funding and budget constraints. This year, the aides remain in kindergarten through grade three.

"If you eliminate Title I aides, these students won't get that focused attention that they need early on," Title I aide Melissa Cabe said. "Please remember, we are here for the students."

"We are a vital part of the educational system at Weatherly," said aide Debra A. Spade. "We work with the struggling students while the teacher moves ahead with instruction for the rest of the class."

Parent Chrissie Houser, whose first-grade child receives Title I instruction, said, "If the aides are cut, the children will suffer."

First-grade teacher Kathy Penkala asked the board to consider using the fund balance to bridge the budget deficit so the work done by Title I aides can continue.

Teacher Barb Sipler said, "The support (Title I aides) give to ensure our children succeed in school cannot be measured in dollars and cents."

As presented to the board Wednesday, the 2014-15 budget includes retention of all existing Title I aides as well as the addition of two special education aides. Without an increase in taxes, the current budget proposal anticipates revenues of $11.06 million and expenditures of $12.08 million for a shortfall of $1.02 million.

Board President Gerard Fewins said the board has trimmed costs from every conceivable section of the budget.

Director Amy Potsko disagreed.

"No, we haven't," Potsko said. "We could have salary cuts. We could furlough employees."

From her seat in the audience, Title I aide Sharlene Strauss said, "I'll give up my lousy 25-cent an hour raise next year if you keep the Title I program."

To Strauss, Potsko said, "We need more people like you."

Sipler, who serves as president of the Weatherly Area Education Association, the teachers labor union, responded, "We took a wage freeze a few years ago."

"And we still don't have a contract," Penkala added.

Negotiations continue between the district and its teachers, whose contract expired Aug. 31, 2013. The most recent offer by the district was rejected by the union in late May. A source close to the negotiations who asked not to be identified said the district's latest offer would have given teachers incremental raises but also asked them to contribute more, including through deductibles, to their health insurance.

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