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State College Board Majority Leans toward 1.4 Percent Tax Increase

State College - Gowen Roper|Jeffrey Ammerman|State College school board
StateCollege.com Staff

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Despite some resident pleas for a bigger tax increase, a majority of State College school-board members appeared committed Monday to an increase in the 1.4 percent range.

A larger increase for the 2011-2012 year could prevent some immediate layoffs and programming cuts, but it wouldn’t make the district’s fiscal model any more sustainable for the long term, several board members said during a marathon meeting. It lasted about five hours, ending after midnight Tuesday morning.

‘The (fiscal) remedy needs to reflect true shared sacrifice’ borne both by the schools and by taxpayers, board member Chris Small said. If the board fails to address the district’s structural financial issues this year, he said, he fears the board will drag the community ‘through this painful and emotional process again next year.

‘Again, the focus will be on the budget, and it won’t be on education,’ Small said.

Like some board colleagues, he also said a four percent tax increase — the maximum that the state would allow in State College for 2011-’12 — would be a significant burden on taxpayers in a tough economy.

The board president, Ann McGlaughlin, said she, too, would prefer to see a tax increase of 1.4 percent.

‘The way our budget is constructed now, and has been constructed in the past, is not sustainable,’ she said. ‘As (fellow board member) Dorothea (Stahl) said, we have not turned over every stone. And until we do, I can’t ask taxpayers who’ve contributed substantially over decades to contribute more. And until we realign our health-care costs, I’m not going to ask taxpayers to shoulder that burden in addition to what they’re personally shouldering.’

Earlier in the meeting, State College resident Todd Costello lamented that his family of five, through his wife, pays just $20 monthly for its health insurance. That insurance is provided through the school district, for which his wife works as a paraprofessional, Costello said.

He suggested the district could — should — ask workers to pay ‘three to five times what they’re paying’ for health insurance.

‘Look: We all want to get (pay) increases,’ Costello said. ‘ … But maybe we’ve overpaid (school employees), and maybe it’s time to get some back.’

Pennsylvania’s Act I index sets the district’s basic tax-increase cap at 1.4 percent for 2011-’12. Administration-developed budget proposals so far, including roughly 60 job cuts, have reflected a tax increase at that level.

But state-approved exceptions for specific expenses — including pension obligations and special-education costs — give the local school board the ability to raise taxes as much as four percent for the coming school year. A tax increase at that level would cost the average household an extra $100 in new taxes; it also would be enough, in theory, to avoid all the layoffs that the administration has tentatively floated, business administration Jeffrey Ammerman has said.

A number of teachers, parents and other locals have urged the board to consider the maximum tax increase as a way to minimize 2011-’12 cuts. Board members Jim Leous, David Hutchinson and Gowen Roper have said they’re willing to use the state-approved Act I exceptions to consider a tax increase of more than 1.4 percent.

Specifically, Leous said he would support up to a three percent increase — depending on how the district handles its pension obligations. If it prefunds its obligations next year, he said, he could support a three percent tax increase; if not, he would support a 1.8 percent increase.

‘I think we have a responsibility to try to share the pain’ both with the schools and with the taxpayers, Roper said.

Board member Dorothea Stahl added her voice to Leous’, Hutchinson’s and Roper’s — somewhat — on Monday, saying she could support an Act I exception to help pay for the district’s pension obligation. That would bump the tax increase to 2.7 percent.

Stahl said she wants the district budgeting process to focus on academics, ‘and not on the fluff that to seems to be the State College way for the last 15 to 20 years.’

Other board members, meanwhile, stuck to — or close to — the 1.4 percent level in Monday’s discussions. Jim Pawelczyk, the board vice president, said he doesn’t believe use of the Act I index exceptions would be valid.

He and board colleague Richard Bartnik said the district needs to work toward a multi-faceted budget approach — one that recognizes fiscal hardships will continue for at least several more years, they said.

But that doesn’t mean the board must adopt all the cost-cut and layoff options advanced by the administration, Bartnik and Pawelczyk said.

Pawelczyk suggested the district undertake a combination of salary controls, health-insurance ‘modernization,’ some job cuts, a limited tax increase and a reconsideration of extracurricular activities.

The subject of extracurricular activities — along with the district’s music curriculum — was key during the Monday meeting. More than two dozen parents, students, alumni and others addressed the board, at least half of them advocating for strong music programs. Dozens of others filled the meeting room. (To accommodate the crowd, the board met on the third floor of the State College Municipal Building.)

Many said they’re concerned that the district has delayed plans to hire a new band director as Richard Victor and John Kovalchik — the director and assistant director, respectively — prepare to retire this spring.

Waiting too long to fill such central positions could wreak havoc with the marching band’s summer schedule, some people said. Others objected strongly to the tentatively proposed Jazz Band, guitar-class and elementary-level-ensemble reductions in the district budget.

Acting Superintendent Michael Hardy answered their concerns, saying that no positions at State High will be filled until likely job cuts at the secondary level are finalized. Under labor rules in the district, laid-off personnel may be considered for still-open jobs, including those in the music program.

Also Monday, the board was presented with several administration-prepared options for cutting back extracurricular activities. Board members appeared open to considering private fundraising, participant fees and volunteer labor to help sustain as many student activities as possible.

‘If we’re going to charge a fee’ for extracurricular activities, Roper said, the district also needs to offer an alternative for those who can’t afford the fee. ‘We don’t (want to) shut them out’ because of limited personal resources.

Bartnik, who said he doesn’t favor eliminating any student activities, said the district needs to focus more on big-ticket expenses — namely its payroll. That makes up 73 percent of the district budget, he said.

‘My personal opinion is that we’re taking a lot of time to talk about small things (like extracurricular activities). And we’re not worrying about the big thing,’ Bartnik said, stirring applause from the audience.

Board members are expected to continue budget discussions at a work session on May 2. It’s scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the board’s normal venue, at 131 W. Nittany Ave., State College. Additional budget discussions are expected in advance of a formal budget hearing at 7 p.m. June 6 at Mount Nittany Middle School.

In other board matters Monday night:

  • McGlaughlin said the district’s search for a new superintendent will enter a public phase on May 5 and May 6. On each of those days, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., the district will host ‘Meet the Candidates’ events at Mount Nittany Middle School. The events will be completely open to the public.

  • The board voted 8-0 to approve schematics for Memorial Field upgrades. (Only board member David Hutchinson was absent.) The schematics include a three-phase approach to upgrading the stadium. Phase No. 1, priced in the $3 million range, would replace the disintegrating west-side bleachers and add an underground stormwater vault; phase No. 2, in the $10 million range, would bring a new east-side grandstand, locker rooms and concession stands; and phase No. 3, in the $2 million range, would bring new turf, new drainage and new access from Sidney Friedman Park. The board has not approved expenditures to finance the plans, but having the approved schematics in hand will enable the district to seek philanthropic support for the project, officials said. It’s not yet clear when — or if — the board may eventually allocate any district funds to help begin the Memorial Field upgrades.

  • The board voted 8-0 to approve a revenue-generating agreement that will open signage at Memorial Field and the State High North Building natatorium to advertising.

  • The board voted 8-0 to approve a series of technology recommendations. The recommendations will set the underpinnings of a proposed ‘any time, anywhere’ plan, which would encourage use of iPads, laptops and other advanced personal devices from the elementary schools up through the secondary level. As part of the plan, State High students are expected to see greater opportunities to use their own Internet-enabled devices in school; that change should take shape in time for the 2011-’12 school year.

  • The board heard a brief update on elementary-redistricting discussions. Board members are expected to vote on the latest redistricting plan on May 9. A meeting on the subject — and geared toward parents — is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in the Mount Nittany Middle School cafeteria.

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