Politics & Government

GV School Board Approves $76.8M Budget, 3 Percent Tax Increase

The board voted 5-4 in favor of the maximum allowable tax increase. An activity fee schedule and teachers contract modification also passed.

The Board of School Directors in approved a $76.8 million budget Monday night, including a 3 percent tax increase for property owners. The new rate equals a $109 increase on the average home in the district, valued at $193,665.

Before the vote, Superintendent Alan Lonoconus gave a refresher on the 2012-13 budget proposal and laid out four options for the board:

  • Option A: Raise taxes to Act 1 index, plus all exceptions (3 percent total)
  • Option B: Raise taxes to Act 1 index (1.7 percent)
  • Option C: No tax increase
  • Option D: Any combination of the above, without exceeding Option A

Option A, the maximum increase allowable by law, was the first and only one brought up for a vote. After about 20 minutes of discussion, it passed by a vote of 5-4. Among the board members voting in favor:

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  • Ellen Behrle, voting via telephone: "It's the community's responsibility to help fund the schools, not just the parents who have kids in the schools."
  • Andrew Daga: "I think this district is in peril, financially."
  • David Barratt: "Is closing an elementary school an option? Anything is an option. However, I didn't move to this school district to have my kids crammed into [a] school... if we want that we can move to Philly."
  • Stephanie Gunderson: "I just think it would be crazy, when you look at the five-year projection, not to try to get the money to match the situation."
  • Jennifer Armstrong: "I see other districts slashing arts, music, technology, foreign languages, because they’re in a position where they didn’t plan for the future."

Voting against the three-percent option were:

  • Ted Leisenring: "I wager, if we put it to a referendum ... the answer would be, from the taxpayers, please don't raise my taxes."
  • Bruce Chambers: "The theme tonight seems to be ... it's time for the community to step forward. Where do you think the community has been? The community has been funding education at a very high rate for years and years."
  • Mary Ravenfeld: "Going to the [1.7 percent Act 1] index allows us to be proactive. It allows us to plan for the looming budget deficits that we know we're facing in the future, and it allows us to maintain the integrity of the educational and extracurricular programs."
  • Phil Foret: "We spend $19,000 per student. That's some premium education on [on par with] some of our local private schools. Let's give our taxpayers a break this year. They've been hit pretty hard for the past ump-teen years, if not longer. Let's just try to keep it at zero."

Other votes:

Activity fees proposal passes, 5-4

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The board also voted in favor of a new fee schedule for sports and other student activities. The fees are designed to have parents pay about a quarter of the cost of the programs, and each family is capped at $750 per school year. Full story coming.

Amendment to contract with GVEA passes, 9-0

The school board and the teachers' union, the Great Valley Education Assocation, reached an agreement that will extend the teachers' contract through June 30, 2014 and save the district roughly $1.75 million. According to the amended contracted, in 2012-13: all salaries and compensation will be frozen at 2011-12 levels; the middle school and high school will not be restructured; and no tenured teacher will be demoted or suspended. Full story coming.


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