'Let's Make A Deal' on the Schools Budget

s $63 million budget is beginning to look a little like the TV show, "Let's Make A Deal."

On that show, guests pick a door covering a showcase in the hopes of winning the prizes behind it.

In the school district, four "doors" are up for consideration on the schools budget after Monday's three-hour meeting of the school board's finance committee.

Behind Door No. 1 is Budget A. It has no tax increase and $1.5 million in cuts. This is the proposed final budget approved May 9 by the school board. A student activity fee is figured into this budget. The revenue generated from the fee would offset the costs of supplementals that were originally cut from the budget. Click here to view the showcase with this budget in it.

Open Door No. 2 and you will find Budget B. It has no tax increase. A student activity fee is figured into this budget also. It also includes funding for the student activities coordinator's position. 

Then there is Door No.3 with Budget C behind it. This showcase includes a tax increase. Budget A is in here also, with a few adjustments. Two paraeducator positions are included here after being cut from Budget A. The student activities fee also is in here, but the student activities coordinator's position is not. Additional revenue raised from the tax increase would be reserved to cover the next school year's expenses.

Finally, Door No. 4 has Budget D behind it. It contains everything that is in the showcase behind Door No. 3 plus the student activities coordinator's position.

All of the showcases include an $80,000 contingency earmarked to pay for special education costs in case, for example, a new student moves into the district for whom a paraeducator is required.

The school board will discuss the budget again at its 7:30 p.m. meeting on Monday, May 23, at the district's administration building at 702 Warrendale Road in Gibsonia.

The final vote on the budget is scheduled for June 13, at which time a tax rate will be set.

Superintendent Dr. Mary Bucci started the meeting by saying she wanted "to get back to the big picture."

"I do not think we could sustain another year of million-and-a-half-dollar cuts without affecting our programs," she said. If the board decided to raise taxes, she recommended setting the money aside for next year's expenses so the district does not have to make cuts again.

"I wouldn't bring anything back," she said, referring to the cuts figured into the 2011-12 budget. Next year, the district will need to deal with rising costs of the Public School Employees' Retirement System, health care and more, she said.

The district also is scheduled to renegotiate contracts with two employee unions.

When asked about class sizes for 2011-2012, Bucci said they would be about the same as this year's levels. She predicted the class size to range from a low of 16 to a high of 23 in the primary schools. For Eden Hall Upper Elementary, 25 students per classroom will likely be the average, she said.

Class sizes should stay about the same at Pine-Richland's middle and high schools, she said. The district will not staff elective classes, however, if the enrollment is under 10, she said.

Director Christine Misback asked about plans to cut the Gateway to the Arts program.

Bucci said the district is looking to create a program involving art teachers and AP art students to fill that void.

Director Aafke Loney argued to put the student activities coordinator back into the budget.

"I think it's an important part of Pine-Richland athletics and clubs, she said. "I think our kids have benefitted greatly by having a coordinator." 

Bucci said a lot of things that benefitted students have been cut from the budget. She said the student activities fee should cover the cost of supplementals, not the cost of the coordinator.

"This year it is artificially small. It is filling a one-year gap," Bucci said.

Pine-Richland High School spent many years without a student activities coordinator, she said.

"Sponsors are quite able to manage their own activities," said Bucci.

Director A. Robert Necciai pointed out that the salary for the coordinator's position would take 20 percent of the $138,000 expected to be raised in student fees.

No other school district in the area has a student activities coordinator, he said.

The student activities coordinator's part-time position averages about 17 hours a week at an hourly pay rate of $25.71, according to figures provided by Director of Finance and School Services Dana Siford.

A listing of potential cuts in the budget includes $23,349 for wages and employer payroll taxes for the position. It does not include health-care coverage, Siford wrote in an email response to questions posed by Pine-Richland Patch.

"I am trying to make long-term decisions for the district to maintain programs," Bucci said. "It is not my recommendation to put that [position] back in when you look at what I've taken out."