GV School Board OKs $76M Preliminary Budget

The first of the Great Valley School Board's two meetings Monday night went by in a flash, ending with unanimous approval of a preliminary budget for the 2011-2012 school year.

After a brief presentation from superintendent Dr. Alan Lonoconus, the nine-member panel voted in favor of a $76 million budget.

During the presentation, Lonoconus used pie charts to explain the revenue streams for the district.

"This is a preliminary budget; these are estimates," he said. "We're trying to reduce our spending to be more in line with revenues. Local revenue accounts for 84 percent. State and federal don't amount to a whole lot. The state supplies about 11, almost 12 percent of the budget."

The federal wedge represented less than half a percent.

The special business meeting had been added to the calendar to comply with the schedule imposed by the state to qualify for Act 1 exceptions. The board voted to file for the exceptions, which would allow the district to exceed tax rate caps, at its last meeting, which required it to adopt a preliminary budget by Feb. 16, per state guidelines.

"March 3 is the deadline for the district to file for referendum exceptions with the PDE [Pennsylvania Department of Education]," Lonoconus explained. "March 23, the PDE issues rulings on district petitions for exceptions. May 17 is the district's deadline to make the proposed final budget available to public."

Residents who turned out to the Great Valley High School auditorium for the meeting were given an opportunity to speak before the vote was taken, but no one stepped to the microphone.

The business meeting had begun at 7:30 p.m., with voting and and adjournment wrapping up by 8 p.m.

The second meeting of the night, the board's working session, wasn't nearly so brief. It included an extended discussion of what budget items to cut in order to reach that $76 million total. That meeting did not conclude until nearly 11 p.m. More coverage of that discussion is still to come.