When: Penn Manor school board meeting, Feb. 18.
What happened: Gov. Josh Shapiro is proposing a $2.7 million increase in the Ready to Learn grant money to Penn Manor, “which is pretty substantial,” said Dan Forry, district chief financial officer, told the board.
Unknown factors: Three unknown factors will impact the district’s decisions. There is uncertainty about whether Shapiro’s proposed state funding for the district will be the full amount. The board must make a final decision about how much money to put aside for savings toward future projects. Finally, the board must set a tax rate for next year.
Projections: Forry said if next year the district receives the governor’s proposed increase, and has no tax hike, it will have a deficit of a little more than $1 million. If the district gets the governor’s proposed increase and passes a 3% tax increase, it will have a $615,075 surplus for 2025-26.
Next steps: There was no vote on the budget. The next scheduled budget update will be at the board’s April 22 meeting. Board members will adopt a proposed final budget at their May 19 meeting.
Policy updates: Following a second reading of district policies presented by Superintendent Phil Gale, the board approved those related to the following topics: the organization of the board and dismissal of board members, video recording of meetings, student discipline and behavior issues, eligibility of nonresident students, educational opportunities for military children, school security, and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence.
Quotable: “The most important factor is that we will continue to educate our teachers and students on the appropriate use of AI,” Gale said of the contemporary issue affecting schools across the country.
Video recording: School board meetings are streamed on the district’s YouTube page. The new policy would have those live streams be recorded and saved to the YouTube page for residents to view.
Tax rebate program: Forry presented the board with options for changing the structure of the tax rebate program to help low-income residents. The current cap on rebates from the district is $650. Forry said one option was raising the cap to $1,000. A second change could be expanding the income cap for who receives a rebate and how much of a rebate they get. The third option was to combine the two.
By the numbers: According to Forry, doing both options in expanding the program would help 124 people and cost the district $18,200. As of the time of the meeting, the district has given $73,281 in rebates to 230 taxpayers.
Quotable: “These are people that really need it, and for that small amount of money, I think it will be money well spent,” board member Donna Wert said.
What’s next: The board voted 8-1 to move the decision to raise the rebate cap and income cap to the March 3 agenda. Frederick Herr voted no.
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