SMETHPORT — The Smethport Area School Board approved a tentative budget Monday that amounts to $15,421,856 and now calls for eliminating one kindergarten teacher and belt-tightening in the athletics account.
In presenting the proposed spending plan to the directors, Superintendent David London explained it now represents a 1.3 percent increase over the current budget, but it could undergo more changes since the district must adopt a final budget by June 30.
Currently, there are three kindergarten teachers and three aides. Eliminating one of these positions would result in a savings of about $70,000 in salary and benefits. No aides would be furloughed. The third aide would be reassigned elsewhere in the district.
For the coming school year, the kindergarten enrollment now stands at 45 students. If this figure increases to 50, the district could stay with three teachers, London said.
The tentative budget calls for savings of $22,000 in secondary athletic insurance and an additional $7,443 in the athletic budget.
On the revenue side, business manager Sue Jordan said that $340,000 that was saved from the 2015-16 budget year has been applied to this budget, with $160,000 transferred to the Capital Project Fund, while the remaining $180,000 going to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System Designated Fund Balance from the June 30, 2016, Unreserved Fund Balance.
“As a board and school district, we must tighten our belts since this is our third deficit year,” London said. “Fortunately, the $340,000 came back in the audit.”
Like other school districts in the state, Smethport is now forced to play “catch up” since the state government underfunded PSERS for some years. London said districts will be facing increases in these contributions for the next three years.
Jordan said the tentative budget will be on display beginning later this week in the superintendent’s office.
In other financial matters, the board approved the administrator compensation plan and adopted a resolution regarding the central office compensation/ benefits. Both cover the period of July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2019. Each agreement calls for a freeze the first year and 1.5 percent increases in each of the succeeding years.
The board also approved the repository bid of $250 from Nathan Myers of Mount Jewett as presented by the McKean County Tax Claim Bureau for a property on Wolf Farm Road in Hamlin Township.
London explained the policies that the board approved pertaining to compensation plans/salary schedules, vacations and paid holidays, in answering a question from district resident Marla McKeirnan. London said the district’s former policies concerning these topics were written in specific language, and at the recommendation of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, they have been revised in “broader terms.” According to London, “Nothing changes. Every district employee is covered by some policy. Teachers and support staff are covered by their collective bargaining agreements, while the administrators are covered by the Administrator Comprehension Plan.”
