GVSD Board Approves Preliminary 2012-13 Budget

The Great Valley School Board approved a $79,175,000 budget for the 2012-13 school year at its Tuesday night meeting. The vote was 6-2, with Bruce Chambers and Phil Foret voting against and Ted Leisenring absent.

The budget, a 2.4 percent increase over the previous year, draws on $3.8 million in reserve funds but leaves a $1,478,767 gap between revenue and expenditures. According to superintendent Alan Lonoconus, that amount will have to be accounted for either in cuts or increased revenue.

Revenue increases could come in the form of tax increases or reserve fund withdrawals, among other options. The district has not committed to filing for Act 1 exceptions, which would allow it to increase taxes beyond the state-imposed 1.7 percent cap, but the board has kept the option on the table.

Chambers and Foret voted against the preliminary budget because they say Great Valley is ineligible to apply for Act 1 exemptions, an issue they have raised at other meetings. According to Chambers, the district's ability to cover the budget shortfall through use of reserve funds precludes it from filing for exemptions, per state law.

Board member Ellen Behrle requested clarity on what the Tuesday vote—one in a long series of budget votes—actually represented.

"Tonight, we're just adopting the preliminary budget," Behrle said, "but we're actually not voting until June [as to] if we're going to raise taxes or if we're going to take more from reserves, is that right?"

"That is correct," Lonoconus said.

Board member Jennifer Armstrong requested that the amount withdrawn from the reserve fund not be listed as "revenue." The superintendent responded that he could accommodate that request in public presentations, but in official documents for the state government, those funds must be listed as revenue.