First Posted: 1/28/2015
EXETER — At a board meeting Tuesday, Wyoming Area school board members were presented with more information about the 2015-16 budgeting process.
Wyoming Area’s business consultant Tom Melone said the school is currently functioning with $19.5 million in debt, but must keep all options open. He also said the district will learn what funding it may receive from Gov. Tom Wolf on March 3.
The state’s current Act 1 index for Wyoming Area is 2.6 percent — a slightly lower figure than last year’s index, which was 2.9 percent. The Act 1 index is a limit set on the amount by which property taxes can be increased in a given year.
During the board’s work session on Jan. 20, Melone presented a 2015-15 preliminary budget of $31.6 million, which included a 2.9 percent tax hike.
To raise taxes higher than the Act 1 index, school districts must provide the state with documentation proving the need to go over the limit. Only certain circumstances can qualify the district for approval.
The date of the next scheduled work session is Feb. 17. The budget will be discussed then, with the preliminary budget to be voted on at the regular meeting on Feb. 24.
In other business:
• The board approved the written collective bargaining agreement between the Wyoming Area Board of Education and the Wyoming Area Education Association. The agreement will is effective Sept. 1, 2015 through Aug. 31, 2016. The agreement was approved last June, however, salary scales had to be calculated.
• Michelle Harden was appointed the freshman class advisor for the 2014-15 school year.
• The board approved Mike Stefanik to continue as long-term substitute teacher for Donna Kleback for the second semester of the 2014-15 school year.
• Jennifer Judge was approved as a second-grade teacher in the Sarah J. Dymond Elementary School.
• An agreement with Invo HealthCare Associates to provide speech and language services to the district was approved, effective on or about Jan. 26 through June 30.
• Norman Scholl and Mitch Payne were approved as part-time (10-month) cleaning personnel.
• The Wyoming Area Police Department had 12 total calls for service. Two of those were medical emergencies, while four of them were non-criminal reports. There were 19 reports in November, and nearly 40 calls to service in October.
When the board meeting was called to order by Dr. Estelle Campenni, second-graders from the Montgomery Avenue School lined up in front of the audience to recite Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Nearly 40 students recited the speech to a packed board room audience, many of which were parents.
The board also recognized the Wyoming Area girls basketball team for its class during a game against MMI Prep earlier this month. The Warriors hung signs of inspiration in the Preppers locker room prior to a game last week. MMI Prep fell to Holy Redeemer, 125-13, earlier this month. Wyoming Area also treated MMI Prep to cupcakes and pizza following the game.
