AMITY >> The Daniel Boone Area School District’s preliminary 2015-16 budget includes the furlough of eight teachers and the retirement of three others.
The school board will vote on the preliminary budget and the staffing reductions at its next meeting, scheduled for Monday.
Eight staff reductions will occur at the elementary schools, one staff furlough from the Daniel Boone Middle School, and two furloughs from the Daniel Boone High School, Business Manager Loren Small told the board at a committee-of-the-whole meeting on Monday.
“The staff reductions are in line with the decline in enrollment,” Small said, adding that the state’s basic and special education subsidy money has “flat-lined.”
Small said the staff reductions will balance the $53 million budget and eliminate the need to increase the current tax rate of 28.9618 mills. Property owners with a $100,000 assessed property, pay an annual tax bill of $2,896.
Amy Hicks, president of the Daniel Boone Education Association, the teachers’ union, asked which position was being eliminated at the high school. She was told that the school board’s finance committee and Small have not determined the furloughed high school staff member yet.
The board discussed the possible expenditure of $15,000 to study student enrollment and elementary class sizes for the possibility of closing an elementary school in either the 2016-17 or 2017-18 school year.
Finance Committee Chairman Andrew Basile said the first year of a building closure in 2016-17 would have a positive influence on the district’s fund balance by reducing salaries.
He said the district has not yet received a proposal from the Pennsylvania Economy League to do the enrollment projection.
“Are we looking at what the class sizes would be if we close a school, or are we dictating what the class sizes would be?” asked board member Michael D. Wolfe.
“We first need to study what the building capacity is, and then determine [about] putting fifth grade in the Middle School, or present a differed model?” said Basile.
“Closing a building will not necessarily drive class sizes bigger,” said board President Richard Martino.
“We haven’t said we’re going to increase class sizes. The discussion is how what we have will fit.”
Martino said the district’s budget and five-year plan (that includes the building closure evaluation) will be posted online.
“You will see in the five-year plan that there is no increase in salaries and benefits,” said Martino.
“The reality is that salaries and benefits have gone up and up – squeezing out everything else we have available,” said Basile.
“People don’t want to see salaries and benefits go up – that would be a big relief on our budget and programs.”
Amity Township Supervisor Richard L. Gokey complimented the board on their interactions with each other, staff, and the public.
“Thank you for providing quality education without raising our taxes — for three years now,” said Gokey, adding, “I know as a township supervisor how hard it is to provide quality programs.”
High School Principal Preston N. McKnight said he will hold a public meeting with juniors, seniors, and their parents to stop the incidents of speeding on Garey Road, which accesses the east end of the High School property.
“Students and parents – in minivans – are speeding at very high rates of speed on Garey Road,” said Basile, speaking for the Union Township Supervisors and the residents.
Basile said residents estimate that drivers are going 50 to 60 miles per hour, despite the stop sign installed at Garey Road and Laney Drive in February.
McKnight said he would have a discussion with the students regarding driver responsibility and being a good neighbor.
He said a security guard from M&G Security would also be posted in the area and monitor the situation each morning and afternoon.
“Closing the Garey Road entrance to the High School would require a traffic study to evaluate its effect on Route 345,” said McKnight.
“If someone gets caught speeding, they should lose their parking permit,” said Martino.
Board member Carol Beitz, liaison to the Blazer Foundation, said the foundation’s Christmas Auction raised the final $8,000 needed to build the $21,000 greenhouse project at the Middle School.
The Pottstown Wellness Foundation provided the initial $5,000, as well as the matching $8,000 of funds.
Beitz said the greenhouse will be built this summer outside of the science classrooms.
