By John Kurtz, Item Correspondent

Although the state budget is not final until the governor signs it, Hamburg School Directors learned that the district’s basic education subsidy has been reduced by $243,000 to $6.4 million, according to Business Manager Stuart Whiteleather.

“This is a significant change to the original budget,” Whiteleather said. “We will have to make the necessary adjustments once it’s final.”

Whiteleather noted that state and federal funding have remained unchanged for special education ($1.2 million) and stimulus funding ($325,786).

“Nothing is final until the governor signs it,” he said. “But we are in good shape relative to our peers.”

The district has not received two subsidy payments estimated at $2 million because the budget is not yet final, according to Whiteleather.

In other news, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Potteiger informed school directors that the district has met Average Yearly Progress (AYP) in the most recent Pennsylvania Systems of School Assessments (PSSA) test results.

The tests are administered to grades 3-8 and grade 11. The district’s goal was to have a 3 percent increase over the average of the past three years, according to Dr. Potteiger.

The district reached their goal for all grades in the Reading PSSA and six out of seven grades in the Math PSSA.

Dr. Potteiger credited a focus on curriculum and rewriting curriculum as well as spending time and money on professional development for teachers as some of the reasons for the district’s success.

Superintendent Steven Keifer said that teachers in the district know the importance of the tests and that it’s a front burner topic.

“I give our teachers a lot of credit,” Keifer said. “They are not teaching the test, but what kids should know. I believe that our technology is helping. It’s a combination of different things.

“We do foresight testing to know where we are weak and develop strategies to be successful.”

The school directors met in executive session before the meeting to discuss a contract issue. No further information was available.

The next board meeting is Monday, Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the high school.