Frazier board adopts budget
PERRYOPOLIS – Whether the Frazier School Board approves a high school guidance counselor position and rehires five temporary classroom aides before the start of the 2003-2004 school year will depend on any additional state subsidy the district expects to receive from the state next month. The board adopted an $11,246,221 budget Thursday, setting the tax rate at 9.28 mills, which reflects no tax increase.
The budget still reflects a $22,549 deficit, pared down by $28,751 after the retirement of the middle school/high school family and consumer science teacher. Voting in favor of the budget were board President John H. Lowery III, Kathy Burkholder, John Sterdis, John C. Boone and David Simmons, with Eugene Gearing abstaining upon the hiring of a guidance counselor.
Gearing quizzed Lowery as to why the board did not have more than one budget meeting, stating he was not in favor of voting for the budget if it didn’t include a guidance counselor.
“It’s not fair to the kids,” said Gearing.
Absent from the meeting were Joe Stark, John Keffer and Bill Vargo.
According to Superintendent Dr. Frederick Smeigh, the additional retirement had a major effect on the budget by paring down the initial $51,300 deficit that the board added into the budget for five teacher aide positions.
In order to balance the budget, Smeigh said, the district would make up the $28,751 difference from the deficit by using the fund balance.
Smeigh added that although the board agreed to include the five classroom aides in the tentative budget, they would have to vote on rehiring them, since they are annual positions.
Smeigh stressed the importance of having a high school guidance counselor, stating that the district would be forced to decrease the amount of services at the middle school in order to better serve the high school.
“My preference is a guidance counselor over the aides, but it’s still up to the board,” said Smeigh.
After meeting with local legislators in Harrisburg earlier this week, Smeigh said he is speculating that the district will receive additional state subsidy, but he is not sure of the amount or how it will be distributed among the state’s 501 school districts.
For that reason, Smeigh said, the state probably will permit the district to reopen the budget.
As one attempt to hold the line on taxes once again, Smeigh said, the district was able to fill an eighth-grade English teacher position by hiring from within while moving up an elementary developmental reading teacher.
The retirement of a second-grade teacher also left the district with the decision not to fill the position, in order to save more money.
“In essence, we are eliminating three positions out of the budget … the guidance counselor and two teaching,” said Smeigh.
Lowery said the board wants to be able to budget for a guidance counselor but does not want to raise taxes to do it.
“If the state comes back with an additional sum of whatever, I will vote to put the guidance counselor back in,” said Lowery.
In a separate matter, the board agreed to hire Wes Martini as head girls’ basketball coach and Rodney Fink as assistant coach, upon the recommendation of the athletic committee. Martini said he plans to change the current program for the better.