Monday’s PASD Budget Meeting Produces $921k in Further Cuts

Though there’s still $1.9 million left to cut to get to the goal of a zero percent tax increase, Phoenixville Area School District took another bite out of the budget to the tune of almost a million dollars Monday night.

Cuts reviewed included athletics, technology and personnel. A list of possible considerations was also presented to the board and those included some suggestions not mentioned in the past.

For personnel cuts, if building substitutes were replaced by substitutes from the service the district uses, that could save $105,500. A reduction of aides, clerks and secretarial staff was also pitched, and that would save $230,000. Superintendent Dr. Alan Fegley said he was “reasonably comfortable” recommending those cuts.

Cutting two teaching positions—those held by teachers who are retiring after this year—would save $141,904, and the reduction of three high school faculty members, listed as “[one] special education and two content positions,” would save another $225,000, for a total in personnel savings of $702,432.

“I don’t believe we’re impinging upon the curriculum at this point,” Fegley said.

Proposed athletic reductions included suspending freshmen field hockey and basketball, along with seventh-grade football and middle school cross country. Those cuts would save the district $20,705.

The idea of pay to play—or as one board member put it, play to participate—came up again.  Members of the board asked for more information and proposals regarding pay to play. The way it was originally outlined would earn the district approximately $55,000 in revenue but was listed as a “red light” idea, or one that the administration was not recommending.

The pay to participate idea originally came up in the first budget meeting, held before Gov. Tom Corbett outlined proposed education budget cuts that would affect the district to the tune of 4.4 percent, or $2.3 million.

When the $55,000 figure was calculated, the proposed fees were $25 per student per activity, with a maximum of $50 per student. A family maximum of $100 was also factored in. Student athletes wouldn’t be the only ones potentially paying. The district’s initial proposal included all extra-curricular activities in the district.

This time around, the board asked if a tier system could be included, with activities that cost the district less having that savings passed along to students.

The board also heard how administrators worked to get the technology budget down to its 2010-2011 level. That meant a 14 percent reduction from the preliminary budget. The district will not purchase desktop computers, in addition to other cuts and efficiency savings.

Some of the ideas listed for further consideration included debt refinancing, suspension of hiring of a Director of Continuous Improvement, elimination of a principal in the kindergarten center, postponing the East Pikeland Elementary School project, generating advertising revenue and having students bring in more supplies. All of those ideas were still in the very early stages.

The next budget meeting will be held May 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the middle school library. The board also has a finance committee meeting April 13 at 6:30 p.m. and a workshop meeting scheduled April 14 at 7 p.m. The finance committee will meet in the administration building conference room, and the workshop meeting will be in the high school cafeteria.