New band uniforms, a police officer working in Emmaus High School and two more teachers to reduce large classes in elementary schools are “initiatives” the administration of East Penn School District wants included in the budget for the next school year.
Dr. Michael Schilder, the district’s superintendent, proposed those three initiatives during an initial presentation of the 2015-16 budget that he and district business manager Debra Surdoval gave to the school board Monday night.
The state Department of Education will allow East Penn to increase property taxes by 2.2 percent without seeking exceptions in the next school year.
But the school district intends to request state exceptions because it anticipates the possibility of raising taxes more than 2.2 percent
District officials estimate they can seek exceptions to raise taxes as much as 5.2 percent, although it’s much too early in the process of developing a budget to predict the actual size of that increase.
Surdoval noted the district always has stayed well below the maximum it is allowed to raise taxes when it applies for exceptions from the education department.
Except for the band uniforms, school resource officer and two additional teachers, the superintendent defined it as a “maintenance only” budget: “We are simply trying to maintain what we have.”
Schilder stressed he does not want to eliminate programs or decrease staffing. “Our goal is to keep taxes as low as possible without cutting programs,” he said.
Band uniforms
The administration proposes including $50,000 in the 2015-16 budget to get new uniforms for the Emmaus High School Marching Band.
Schilder said the band’s uniforms are 11 years old.
“That is a lot of wear and tear; a lot of students who have exerted themselves in the marching band uniforms,” he said.
“As we replace athletic uniforms, we really should replace marching band uniforms as well.”
SRO
The superintendent said getting a school resource officer —SRO — in Emmaus High School is a very high priority.
He or she will be a police officer employed by the Emmaus police department but budgeted by the school district at $100,000 next year.
Rather than just “wandering the halls looking for evil-doers,” Schilder said the SRO also pro-actively will serve as a counselor and teacher “as it relates to law enforcement.”
He said the officer will be there for much more than simply to prevent violence — including drug prevention, substance abuse, sexual harassment and bullying.
“An SRO officer can have a tremendous impact on a school environment by being there for students and working hand-in-hand with the administration,” said Schilder.
Based on his own experiences with school resource officers, the superintendent said students will go to SROs to report things or ask for help when they will not go to the school’s principal or assistant principal.
He said many high schools in urban, suburban and rural school districts across the country are getting SROs.
He noted Allentown School District has four SROs, Parkland has two, and Whitehall, Southern Lehigh and Salisbury each have one.
“I’ve been in contact with the superintendents of those districts and every one of them said now that they have SROs, they can’t imagine not having an SRO,” said Schilder. “That’s how ingrained and integral that position is in those high schools.”
Schilder feels strongly that Emmaus High needs an SRO —“not because of anything that’s happened at our high school, but just because of the nature of high schools and 2,800 students in any high school in this country, no matter what area.”
Teachers to reduce class sizes
The administration also proposes hiring two “floating” teachers for the next school year, at a cost of $160,000 for salary and benefits, to reduce elementary school classes that have more than 30 students.
This year, said Schilder, East Penn has seven elementary classes, all at the fifth grade level, with 30 or more students.
He told the school board there also are classes with more than 30 students in East Penn’s middle schools, but doesn’t think the district can afford to hire enough teachers to address that problem at both middle and elementary schools.
The superintendent explained he is not comfortable with middle school classes of more than 30 students, but is more uncomfortable with class sizes that large in the elementary schools.
Schilder later noted class sizes can be reduced only if a particular school building has additional classroom space.
Budget timetable
Although a final budget won’t be adopted by the school board until June, Schilder said the administration began working on it back in October.
He said the district has to propose a preliminary budget by Jan. 20 and make it available to the public.
The school board will vote on a proposed final budget on May 11, with a final vote for adoption on June 22.
Between now and June, promised the superintendent, there will be much discussion about “how to craft this budget” in public school board meetings.
He told the school board: “By no means is any of the information you see tonight etched in stone.”
The size of next year’s budget — “as it sits today, in very preliminary form” —will increase nearly 5 percent compared to this year’s budget.
At the moment, the proposed budget totals $136,898,291— over $6.38 million more than the current 2014-15 budget.
Schilder questioned whether that increase will be funded by a tax increase, use of the district’s budgetary reserves or through additional trimming of the budget with cuts.
“It’s probably going to be a combination of all three of those,” he said.
Board president Alan Earnshaw told his colleagues there would be no discussion or debate about the budget Monday night, including “the merits or demerits of the proposals” made by the superintendent.
Board member Waldemar Vinovskis called having a school resource officer in Emmaus High School “a great idea.”
But board member Ziad Munson said he is skeptical about the SRO, wants to learn more about the position from Schilder and looks forward to having a “robust discussion” on the subject.
Schilder said the high school’s administration has been recommending an SRO be budgeted for the last few years.
“It is their top priority as well as mine,” he said.
He said Emmaus police chief David Faust has invited the school district to participate in the interview process to hire an SRO.
Earnshaw added it’s not yet been determined if the position will be filled by a current member of the police department or a new employee.
Property taxes increased by 3.34 percent for the current school year in East Penn, but there was no tax increase in the 2013-14 school year.
Unknowns for the 2015-16 budget include whether state funding to the district will increase and when warehouses planned in Lower Macungie Township will be completed and begin generating additional tax revenue for the district.
Schilder said salaries are increasing by 3.6 percent in the next school year, because of contractual obligations, and benefits are increasing by nearly 12 percent, mostly because of escalating pension contributions.
Surdoval said contracted salaries will increase by 2.5 percent for teachers and administrative assistants in the next school year and by 3.4 percent for custodians.
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