ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown School District and its teacher's union say they have come to terms on their next collective bargaining agreement.
Union President Leslie Franklin said in a news release that Allentown Education Association plans to vote on the agreement on May 10.
- Allentown School District does not plan to raise taxes this year
- A budget forum is scheduled for May 3
- New initiatives include a new transportation plan and more arts programming
The tentative deal comes as the district is crafting its budget for the fiscal year.
ASD expects to have a $464 million budget with no rise in property taxes, thanks partly to an unprecedented boost in dollars from former Gov. Tom Wolf and federal pandemic funds, which run out this year.
The board is scheduled to vote on a preliminary budget in May and a final one in June.
No tax increase
The proposed budget calls for the millage rate to remain at 22.6432.
That means the owner of a property assessed at $100,000 for tax purposes would pay a yearly tax bill of $2,264.32.
During the last budget cycle, the school board raised the millage rate 5.3% — the most allowed by law. This would be the first time since the 2016-17 fiscal year that the district did not hike taxes.
Charles Linderman, one of ASD’s interim business managers, said the district is counting on an 8% increase from the state for the 2023-24 budget year.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed about $1 billion in new education spending, which includes raising basic education funding $567 million. Level Up funding, which was created by Wolf in 2021 to go to the 100 poorest school districts, would stay at current amounts.
State Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh and chairman of the House Education Committee, said he hopes legislators can agree to increase Level Up funding to help supplement some of the state’s poorer urban districts, such as Allentown.
State Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh, said there’s a lot of bipartisanship around investing in education among lawmakers.
“For some of the Wolf budgets, the governor would make his proposal and then House Republicans and Senate Republicans would basically lob every grenade under the sun at it,” Schlossberg said.
“Whereas in this one, while there certainly were complaints and criticisms, they were a lot more muted and detailed-oriented rather than based on spending priorities.”
Rising costs
Linderman said the district’s cost drivers are charter school tuition rates and transportation.
General education students' tuition rates in 2021-22 were $10,986; for 2023-24, those rates will be $11,418 or more.
Special education students cost the district $27,866, for 2023-24; they will cost $29,980.
“We project that in three to five years, it’s going to be over 100%, what will that mean when it’s over 100%?”Allentown Schools District Interim Business Manager Charles Linderman
Linderman said he is budgeting an additional $13.3 million in tuition and busing because of charter schools in the fiscal year.
Charter school advocates at a recent school board meeting questioned his assertion that about 77% of property tax revenue will go to charter school costs next year.
“We project that in three to five years, it’s going to be over 100 percent, what will that mean when it’s over 100 percent?” he said.
“That means you’re going to have to go to other places. You’re going to start having to take money out of your state allocations that you're using for our own students to pay for charter schools.”
The school district plans to take over its transportation operations from First Student as a cost-saving measure.
"You’re going to start having to take money out of your state allocations that you're using for our own students to pay for charter schools.”ASD Interim Business Manager Charles Linderman
First Student is under contract to provide transportation to Allentown School District students with special needs, and those attending charter schools, private and religious schools and Lehigh Career and Technical Institute and Lehigh Carbon Community College.
The district already cut funding for bus monitors for general education students, leading the company to eliminate 47 positions.
The district said it found routes without special needs students where monitors were not required by law to be on the buses. The move is expected to save about $2.5 million.
The new transportation plan involves transporting early intervention students, prioritizing busing ASD students who have to walk more than a half mile to school and using LANTA buses for charter, private and religious students.
New initiatives
Superintendent Carol Birks said she plans to use the money for initiatives such as expanding pre-kindergarten, expanding arts education and investing in the core curriculum.
“Our kindergarten through eighth-grade students in Allentown receive the arts once every eight days,” she said. “One time every eight days.
"We are proposing that we hire more staffing. so that’s why we’re looking at our resources very strategically so that we can put more arts back into our schools.”
Birks said some of her goals include improving academic performance in reading and math, decreasing absenteeism, helping more students graduate from high school and making sure more English language learners understand English.
A budget forum is scheduled for May 3. Birks said the district also will do a “central office transformation” focusing on schools, principals and families. The district also will create a budget book that will be public, she said.
