BVA passes 2017-18 budget with minimal cuts
ROSTRAVER TWP. — The Belle Vernon Area School Board passed the school district’s 2017-18 budget, but some parents raised alarm about one potential cutback.
During its regular meeting Monday evening, the board voted 6-2 to pass the general fund budget in the amount of $37.16 million. The budget includes a millage rate of 81.64, a 2.40-mill increase, in Westmoreland County and 19.53, a .68-mill increase, in Fayette County.
According to Superintendent Dr. J.D. Wilkinson, no curriculum cuts were made to balance the budget; however, the board will have to furlough a half-time Spanish teaching position and possibly a half-time or full-time nursing position.
Kelly DiPiazza, the mother of a first-grader with asthma and severe food allergies, asked the board to avoid making any cutbacks to the district’s nursing staff.
“We have a 504 plan which stipulates that a full-time nurse has to be in a classroom building at all times,” she said. “I’ve heard some talk about sending a floater nurse to various buildings. My concern is that this won’t give students the continuity of care they would get with a full-time nurse.”
Wilkinson said he is committed to saving the nursing position. However, he added that there will be uncertainty until the board gets its final fund balance numbers during the first week of July.
Board President Joe Grata, who voted against the budget, said the district is running out of options.
“Circumstances, often beyond our control, have caused serious budget problems,” he said. “That includes the state’s pension program, charter school payments, insufficient and low state subsidies, unfunded and underfunded state and federal mandates, and, in BVA’s case, a contract with the Education Association that goes far beyond available resources.
“That last contract was reached in the heat of the moment, against the advice of our solicitor and without identifying the costs or means by which the district could pay for them. We cannot simply keep raising property taxes when other parties are failing to do their part in sharing the burden.”
In related action, the board adopted a resolution implementing a Homestead/Farmstead Exclusion for the 2017-18 school year, resulting in a calculation of the maximum real estate tax reduction amount applicable to each approved homestead and to each approved farmstead in Westmoreland and Fayette counties.
The board also re-enacted all taxes, including business privilege taxes, mercantile taxes, mercantile license taxes, real estate transfer taxes and all other taxes without substantial change.