Jan 28, 2016 By Cara Host 3 min read

Bethel Park School Board approved the first draft of its budget at the meeting Jan. 26, but because it is so early in the budget planning process, the only certainty is that the numbers will change.

Pennsylvania requires all school districts to submit preliminary budget information by the end of January, more than five months before the fiscal year ends and school boards have to approve their final spending plans.

“I don’t like this procedure at all. It’s craziness,” Donna Cook, board president, said at the committee meeting earlier in January.

She noted the irony that Pennsylvania requires school districts to start the budget process so early, when the state cannot seem to pass a budget at all. Pennsylvania is entering the seventh month without a full budget. It’s the longest budget impasse in modern state history.

Bethel Park’s preliminary budget for 2016-17 is $85.9 million. It’s about 3.6 percent larger than this year’s budget and would require a tax increase above the state index of 2.9 percent.

Any tax increase above the state index has to be approved by voters through a referendum, unless the district obtains an exception through the state Department of Education. Bethel Park will apply for the exception due to pension contributions and special education expenses.

However, district officials noted it is far too early to tell what kind of property tax increase Bethel Park may need, because many aspects of the budget are unknown. Leonard Corazzi, director of finance, said the preliminary numbers were estimated high, and he expects those numbers will go down as the budget process continues.

In another matter, the board received a clean audit report. Steve Cypher of Cypher & Cypher Accountants of Canonsburg said Bethel Park School District posted a budget surplus last year and boasts a healthy fund balance, but the district will face challenges to its finances in the years ahead.

Contracts with the teachers’ union and other unions will expire soon. The district also faces increases to its employee health insurance premiums and uncertainties in the amount of funding from the state and federal governments. However, the biggest challenge is one that all school districts are facing, rising contributions to Public School Employees’ Retirement System.

Bethel Park currently contributes 25.8 percent of teachers’ salaries to the pension fund and that amount will increase to 30 percent in a few years. Cypher said the state severely underfunded the plan and now districts are paying the price.

“The job of school director is not going to get any easier and this is a big reason why,” he said.

The board also:

• Approved a leave of absence to Narissa Tongchinsub, high school biology teacher, and hired Monica Graziani as the long-term substitute biology teacher.

• Approved the high school course selection guide for next school year.

• Approved $21,987 in upgrades to the district’s Internet infrastructure.