District grapples with state’s strings on additional aid

The school district received a $377,000 increase in state aid, but $193,000 of that must be spent on academic programs for economically disadvantaged students.

By: Donna Lukiw
   The Manville School District’s increase in state aid is coming with some strings attached, which means the extra aid isn’t going to benefit taxpayers as much as district officials first hoped, according to Business Administrator Richard Reilly.
   "The state is setting standards on how districts can use that money," Mr. Reilly said Tuesday. "Unfortunately, we do not meet requirements to put money toward the tax levy."
   The district received a $377,000 increase in state aid, but $193,000 of that is required to be spent on academic programs that benefit economically disadvantaged students.
   "It was a little misleading," Mr. Reilly said about the state aid.
   Superintendent Donald Burkhardt said the rest of the state aid has been included in the budget to keep all existing programs in place.
   Richard Vespucci, spokesman for the Department of Education said the extra aid was based on the percentage of students in the districts who qualify for free or reduced price lunches.
   The additional $193,000 must be spent on academic programs such as literacy, preschool and full-day kindergarten.
   "It’s designed for remedial courses," Mr. Vespucci said. "This year, this is the group that is being targeted."
   Dr. Burkhardt said the district isn’t certain how it can spend the state aid yet since the state still has to release its guidelines for the program.
   Once the state notifies the district on how it is allowed to spend the money, administrators will decide if they will add new programs or enhance the existing programs with the state aid.
   With the new state aid figures already in place, board members approved a $16 million preliminary budget, a 4.58 percent increase over last year’s tally.
   The budget would increase the school portion of local property tax bills from an average of $3,222 for a property assessed at $150,000, the borough average, to $3,408. The tax rate would change from $2.148 per $100 of assessed property value to $2.272.
   The local tax levy would be $12,073,755, a 5.76 percent increase over last year.
   A special budget meeting is planned at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Alexander Batcho Intermediate School media center where the public will have an opportunity to discuss the budget with administrators and board members.
   The budget will be finalized during this meeting.
   "Changes can be made by the board between now and Tuesday," Mr. Reilly said about the budget. "Next week we will have a public hearing and it could either stay the same or change."