Saucon Valley Preliminary Budget Unveiled

Taxpayers in the who are worried about another property tax increase can breathe a little easier, at least for right now.

At the April 26 school board meeting, Saucon Valley Superintendent Sandra Fellin introduced the district's preliminary budget for the 2011-2012 school year, which proposes no increase in taxes.

In January, another preliminary budget was proposed, but needed to be revised due to Governor Tom Corbett’s budget which slashed funding for education.

"The Saucon Valley School District has been fiscally responsible and financially conservative over the past several years. Administratively, we knew not to place funding towards non-sustainable resources," Fellin said before the budget was introduced. 

"Through the diligence of the business office’s constant review, negotiation and analysis on necessary resources and administrative cost containment, we are able to withstand the budget reductions that have been put forth from the governor’s new budget," she continued. "We are not ‘lucky.’ We have been prudent and our taxpayers have been supportive over the years."

More positive news is that, if this budget passes, no academic programs will be cut and no teachers will lose their jobs. In January, Fellin explained that the district would not replace two retiring teachers and would “reallocate” teachers to those positions. Another teacher requested a reduction from full-time to part-time status.

However, a source of concern for school board members was the proposed idea of reducing a full-time kindergarten teaching position to part-time, to allow the district to keep its part-time technology integration specialist.

Fellin said the district has a commitment to technology and should keep the technology specialist.

Board members, particularly Sharon Stack, Sandra Miller and Susan Baxter, voiced concerns about this proposal, because it would result in the elimination of one kindergarten section and cause class sizes to inflate from about 17-19 students to 21-23 students. Currently, there are four traditional morning, four traditional afternoon and two extended day sections (for at-risk students) of kindergarten.

Along with not replacing the two retiring teachers and making the kindergarten position part-time, the district plans to save money by using a different physical therapy service and reducing payments towards debt service and benefits.

The budget will again be discussed at the May 10 meeting.

In other business, Lachlan Peeke was voted in as a member of the Bethlehem Area Vo-Tech Authority board. His term will end in January 2013.