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UASB asks administrators to trim $1 million budget deficit

By Steve Ostrosky 3 min read

The Uniontown Area School Board wants more time before adopting the school district’s final 2005-06 budget, asking administrators Monday to come up with ways to reduce a $1 million deficit. At last week’s work session, the board reviewed the budget, which included a $1,009,800 shortfall and a proposed 1.4 mill tax increase.

Board President Harry “Dutch” Kaufman said that the board is unhappy with the current budget figures and the additional time will give administrators an opportunity to further review the spending plan.

“We’re asking the administration to go back and sharpen their pencils and get this down as much as possible before the board votes on it,” he said. “I don’t think anyone here is pleased with these numbers.”

Superintendent Dr. Charles Machesky said a finance/personnel committee meeting will be held Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Central administration building to review additional sources of revenue and possible cuts.

He said state reimbursement for renovations to Menallen School and Marclay School have not been included in the 2005-06 budget, but that money should arrive during the upcoming school year.

Work at Menallen should be done in August, while the Marclay project has an estimated completion date of December.

Machesky said staffing levels will be examined, but noted that he will not recommend staff cuts that will impact students. Several positions have been absorbed through attrition, he said, noting that those positions were considered “auxiliary.”

Director Tammy Boyle said she was not in favor of cuts that could impact class sizes in the school district.

“I don’t want those numbers to go up,” she said. “We’ve done so well with the class sizes and it’s to our advantage to keep them as low as possible.”

The board will hold a special meeting June 30 at 6:30 p.m. to adopt the budget. School boards must adopt a budget for the new school year no later than the end of June.

In other business, the board voted to approve a handbook for student athletes and parents that will go into effect with the fall sports season.

Boyle, who chairs extra-curricular rules committee, said the handbook must be read by student-athletes and signed by a parent before the student can participate in any athletic activity.

She said the handbook lists rules and regulations for student-athletes so that both students and parents are aware of the policies.

“We wanted to be proactive and make sure everyone was aware of what is required,” she said.

Boyle said the handbook lists how many unexcused absences an athlete can have before being removed from the team, lists the complaint procedure and a number of other regulations.

She said the handbook should help reduce the number of complaints board members receive about coaches and playing time.

“It won’t eliminate them all together, but we’re trying to give parents an avenue and a voice,” Boyle said.

She said the athletic handbook will be ready for the fall sports season, and noted she will meet with high school administrators later this week to develop a similar handbook for other extra-curricular activities, such as band, cheerleading, and other clubs.

Before adjourning, the board also voted to accept the retirements of Jerome Florkevich, physical education teacher at Benjamin Franklin School, and Robert W. Sessler, elementary teacher at Lafayette School.

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