School taxes remain steady in Bethel Park
For the third straight year, taxes will remain the same in Bethel Park School District.
The school board approved a nearly $87 million budget for the 2018-19 school year during its May 22 meeting.
The new budget represents a 2.7 percent spending increase over this year. To balance the books without raising taxes, the district plans to withdraw about $719,000 from the district fund balance. Even with this withdrawal, Bethel Park’s fund balance will stand at about seven percent of its total budget, within the 5 to 10 percent range as recommended by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
The property tax rate will remain at 22.8763 mills.
School director Connie Ruhl noted that many school districts in the Pittsburgh area are facing dire budget crises, such as Highlands School District. That district in northeastern Allegheny County recently decided to furlough 26 teachers and staff members, increase taxes by 3.5 percent and borrow up to $11.5 million to bridge a budget deficit. Other districts are facing similar financial problems.
“I’m very pleased that Bethel Park is on sound financial footing,” Ruhl said.
For the past several years, school district officials have tried to keep spending in check by eliminating positions as employees retire or resign. Supporters of the practice point out that student enrollment in Bethel Park has been declining in recent years, so staffing levels should decline as well. However, some board members have opposed eliminating some positions, citing concerns that doing so may affect the quality of education.
School directors Pam Dobos and Ken Nagel voted against the latest staff reduction. The board voted 7-2 to close the reading specialist position at Franklin and Memorial elementary schools. The teacher who held that position, Elizabeth Johnston, will move to a second grade teaching position at Memorial Elementary next school year.
However, Bethel Park has added some positions. The board hired three experienced police officers at the meeting May 22 in an expansion of the school district’s police force. The board decided to quadruple the size of the district’s police department after the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
The three new officers will join school police officer Alyssa Bunn and they will split their time between the high school, the two middle schools and five elementary schools. They will each work full time for ten months and be paid $65,000 annually.
Tim Kirsch has worked for more than 20 years for the Bethel Park Police Department. He said it will be bittersweet to leave the department but takes solace in knowing he will be working just across town. John Remark has worked for more than 30 years as a police officer with Mount Lebanon Police Department and Chris Gawlas has worked for more than 20 years, most recently with Jefferson Hills Police.
Parent Sharon Janosik has some concerns with the police officers and how they may interact with special needs children who are acting out. She cited incidents elsewhere in the country in which students as young as 6 years old have been handcuffed and arrested. Janosik urged the school board to draft detailed rules and policy to govern the police force and she cited the National Association of School Resource Officers as one organization that could provide help with drafting that policy.
“This will be a huge culture shock for these police officers. They should have whiplash because this job brings an entirely different set of challenges,” Janosik said.
Board President Donna Cook noted that the board also increased the number of social workers available in the district, as part of a softer approach to school discipline and safety. The district contracts with Southwood Psychiatric Hospital to provide social workers and next year Bethel Park will have four full-time social workers, up from three full-time and one part-time social workers this year. The board also finalized a joint venture with the municipality to contract with Outreach Teen and Family Services of Mt. Lebanon to provide counseling and various programs for young people in Bethel Park. The school district and the municipality will share the cost.
As part of the end-of-the-year budget planning, the board approved raises for the superintendent and other administrators and staff members.
The board gave an 8 percent raise to Superintendent Joseph Pasquerilla. He will now make $175,000 a year. That was a bit too much for school director Ken Nagel, who said he would have supported a smaller raise. Nevertheless, the motion passed 8-1.
Other board members praised Pasquerilla’s work ethic and said that under his leadership, the district has been able to control spending while standardized test scores have improved.
“You don’t want a swinging door in your superintendent’s office,” Cook said, adding that his salary is still below some neighboring school districts. “It’s very important to have stability.”
The board also approved a new five-year contract with Leonard Corazzi, director of finance, operations and human resources. The board granted raises to the principals and other administrators covered by Act 93 and other administrators and staff members.
Also during the meeting:
- The board accepted resignations from Jenna Fraser, associate principal at the high school, and Maria Marchionna, Spanish teacher at Independence Middle School.
- Approved the purchase for 220 MacBook computers for teachers at a cost of $250,571.
- Transferred several teachers — Sara Liberto from grade 3 to grade 2 at Lincoln Elementary; Bethani Bombich from grade 4 to grade 2 at Washington Elementary; Brittany Abbey from grade 4 at Memorial to special education at Lincoln; Jennifer Callahan from grade 2 at Franklin to special education at the high school; Megan Rerko from science teacher at Independence Middle School to science teacher at the high school and Jessica Scott from special education teacher at Independence Middle School to special education teacher at the high school.