PR School Board Approves Preliminary Budget—But There's a Surprise Attached

The $69.4 million budget includes a 4.24 percent tax increase ... or does it?

The Pine-Richland School Board approved a preliminary $69.4 million budget with a 4.2 percent real estate tax increase Monday night, but there was a surprise attached. Finance and School Services Director Dana Siford told the board it is likely the state will limit a tax increase to 3 to 3.5 percent. The Pennsylvania Department of Education gets involved whenever the school board proposes a tax increase that exceeds its 2 percent index defined by Act 1. The school district can apply for exceptions to the Act 1 index, but the state designates only four categories. Pine-Richland planned to file for exceptions based on rising retirement and special education costs. By adopting the preliminary budget on Monday, the school board gave Siford the…

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How Much Money Will Pine-Richland School District Get from Gov. Corbett's Budget?

The Pennsylvania Department of Education lists proposed funds by school district on its website; Patch checked out info for Pine-Richland.

Gov. Tom Corbett's budget is out and, of course, everyone wants to know how much their cut of the budget pie will be—especially school districts. Patch found that Pine-Richland School District is slated to receive a 5 percent increase from $10.3 million for the 2012-13 school year to $10.8 million for 2013-14 if the governor's proposed budget passes, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's website. Funding is broken down into six categories on the website. The Pennsylvania Department of Education numbers are in the screenshot above. Here's a little more analysis: Increases: Basic Education Funding —from $4.64 million to $4.73 million, up 4.1 percent School Employees' Social Security—$1.04 million to $1.06 million, up 2.8 …

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$69.4 Million Budget Proposed for Pine-Richland Schools

The proposed preliminary budget is available online.

A $69.4 million budget proposed for the Pine-Richland School District calls for a 4.24 percent tax increase and no cuts in personnel. The proposed preliminary budget is at a very early stage—the school board will vote on it Feb. 11 in the first of several votes. It is available for public review at the PRSD administrative offices at 702 Warrendale Road in Gibsonia and at Northern Tier Regional Library. It also is available online by clicking here. The February vote does not set a tax rate or approve the budget—it is a step in the budget process for setting the tax rate. Currently, the state limits the amount the school board can raise the tax rate to 2 percent. To go above that rate, the district must apply to the state by March 7 for …

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Top 10 Stories in October on Pine-Richland Patch

Any surprises here? Did you read all of them?

What was the biggest story in the Pine-Richland Patch in the month of October? Check out our list of top 10 stories and see if you agree with our readers. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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PR Schools Budget Analysis Shows Widening Gap Between Income and Expenses

School board's finance committee looks at long-range budget numbers.

The Pine-Richland School Board already is looking at next year's budget, millage rate and a long-range forecast that shows expenses outpacing revenue. Dana Siford, director of finance and school services, presented budget figures (see pdf in photo box) and reviewed the budget process Monday night for the board's finance committee. On a graph showing budget figures from 2010 to 2018 is a divergent spot located above the year 2013 where the red line of expenses crosses over and rises above the blue line of revenue. Siford also presented preliminary budget documents that factor in a 2 percent millage increase, which is the maximum amount allowed by the state. "I did include the 2 percent tax increase ... just so we have somewhere to start …

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Charles Farley

7:33 pm on Sunday, October 28, 2012

Pardon the observation, but there is no way on this Earth you are a "former teacher" as your user name implies. If you were, you would realize that most teachers work well in excess of the time they are provding classroom instruction; and for those who are delivering a truly "academic" course (i.e. not a dedicated gym teacher) this can be a significant time commitment beyond face time with pupils…   more ›

PR School Board Splits 6-3 on Budget That Cuts 6.5 Teaching Positions, Raises Taxes

The new property tax rate is 22.815 mills per thousand dollars of assessed value.

The Pine-Richland School Board voted 6-3 Monday night to adopt a $66.8 million budget that cuts 6.5 teaching positions and raises taxes by 4.138 percent. Treasurer Dennis Sundo and Directors Ginny Goebel, Peter Lyons, Kevin Nigh, Laura Ohlund and Katie Shogan voted in favor of the budget. Voting against it were President Stephen Hawbaker, Vice President Jeffrey Banyas and Director Therese Dawson. Before the final vote, the nine-member board unanimously supported Lyons' amendment to cut one more teaching position—adding a music teacher to the 5.5 physical education teaching cuts already included in the budget. That brought the propery tax increase percentage down slightly to 4.138 percent, which translates to 22.815 mills per thousand …

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PR School Board Votes on Budget, Tax Rate Tonight

The school board meets at 7:30 p.m. at the school district's administrative offices at 702 Warrendale Road in Gibsonia.

After months of debate, the Pine-Richland School Board votes tonight (Monday) to adopt a budget for the 2012-13 school year and set a tax rate.  No matter what the nine directors do, someone will be uphappy. In preceding meetings, the board's directors have heard Pine-Richland residents tell them to raise taxes, hold the line on taxes, cut programs and teachers, and not to make cuts. It's all been discussed and debated, and tonight is the final showdown. The key number tonight is five. That's how many votes it will take to pass the 2012-13 budget, no matter how many directors attend the meeting. If only seven attend, a simple majority of four votes will not do the trick. Pine-Richland Patch has been reporting on the PR school district's …

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Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: PR School District Tax Increase Strongly Opposed

Daryl and Michelle Festa say they moved into the Pine-Richland School District deliberately due to its reputation and performance, but pulled their four children out because of "drastic changes."

To the Editor: We strongly oppose any tax increase. We believe the Pine-Richland Administration and Board, under (Superintendent) Dr. Mary Bucci, have failed our students, parents and the community by recklessly spending and implementing Progressive educational fads across all grade levels.  This has both a cost impact and an educational quality impact (and may be one of the reasons that the cost for cyber school tuition is rising).  We moved into this district deliberately due to its reputation and performance, but we pulled our four children out of PR because of the drastic changes initiated by Dr. Bucci. There have been huge costs with this transition to a globally-focused school district that seems to care most about keeping up with …

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Kelly Burgess

11:14 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Can you tell us what they were? I would like to know, because I am aware of only one, which affected a very small number of students and had nothing to do with the actual educational process. I did not agree with it, necessarily, but I completely understood it. I would be very interested in hearing about unilateral decisions made by Dr. Bucci that did affect the educational process, curriculum …   more ›

PR School Board Director Lyons Recommends Cutting Two More Teacher Positions

The school board votes June 25 on its 2012-13 budget.

Will two more teacher positions be cut from the Pine-Richland schools budget? That is what Pine-Richland School Board Director Peter Lyons proposed Thursday night at the board's finance committee meeting.  Specifically, he suggests amending the proposed $66.8 million budget to cut two high school positions, for a $148,597 savings: Lyons also proposes a 3.95 percent increase in the millage rate to 22.7734 mills per thousand dollars of assessed value.  That is a decrease from the 4.308 percent increase included in the proposed budget that the school board passed 5-4 in May. The Final Budget Vote The nine-member school board votes June 25 to adopt the budget at its 7:30 p.m. meeting at the district's administration building at 702 Warrendale …

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It Ain't Over 'til It's Over—That's The Way of the PR Schools Budget

The school board finance committee meets Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.

It ain't over 'til it's over. Baseball great Yogi Berra must have been watching the budget process for Pine-Richland schools when he said that. Until the nine-member school board votes to adopt the budget and set a millage rate on June 25, anything can happen. The school board's finance committee meets at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Thursday) to take up where it left off at Monday's full school board meeting. During budget discussions, the entire board usually attends finance committee meetings. Director Peter Lyons on Monday asked Treasurer Dennis Sundo about the reasoning for a May 21 change in direction for the budget.  The Pine-Richland School Board voted 5-4 on May 21 to adopt a $66.8 million proposed final 2012-13 budget that preserves 9.5 …

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