ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Allentown School District’s budget forum Wednesday night kicked off with snack packs of M&M's.
Interim Business Manager Charles Linderman told attendees to eat their candies as percentages of the district’s budget.
The district expects to have about $464 million for the next fiscal year, which begins in July. About 60%, or six M&M's, goes to salaries and benefits, one candy for transportation and maintenance, another for building maintenance, one more for debt service payments.
Officials directed attendees to choose two more to fund students to attending vocational and charter schools. But there was only one left to eat, highlighting friction over charter school funding.
- Allentown School District officials said it has a tight budget, but told residents it doesn't expect to raise taxes this year
- Superintendent Carol Birks said with pandemic funding ending, now is the time to make strategic investments
- Charter tuition rates for 2023-24 is expected to be about $70 million
“And you can count whatever extra M&Ms you have as your reserves,” he said. “And you can eat all of them at once if you want or you can save them for later.”
The school district is predicting no rise in property taxes, thanks partly to an unprecedented boost in funding from former Gov. Tom Wolf and federal pandemic funds, which run out this year.
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.
Linderman said charter schools are a major expense for the school district. ASD expects to pay about $70 million for charter tuition for the next school year, up from $17.8 million in 2013.
Allentown resident Sharon Billington asked why the district would not plan to raise taxes, when in the past it had mismanaged its budget and drawn down its reserves.
“My concern is under previous administrations, under previous school boards, they did not raise taxes, and they kept pulling from [the] fund balance,” she said. “And that's what got us into the deep holes we were in along with the charter schools and not getting the reimbursements from the state.”
Linderman said an increase in revenues, pandemic funding and recent interest rate hikes made administrators more confident in their projections. PFM, a financial consulting firm, will run through various tax scenarios in front the school board at a meeting next week.
Right now is the opportunity for us to give the children the Porsches.ASD Superintendent Carol Birks
Superintendent Carol Birks said arts education is a priority. She plans to add multiple teaching positions this year to incorporate more arts education back into the schools. Salary costs are currently estimated to be about 4% of the overall budget, but officials said adding more positions could have an impact on the proposed millage rate.
Birks said arts education is especially lacking because of cuts made in 2011 in music, art, gym and library time due to financial strains. She said this is a pivotal time to financially invest in some strategic areas.
“Right now is the opportunity for us to give the children the Porsches,” she said. “I always say to my, my team, let's give the kid kids the Porsches. There’s nothing wrong with driving in the Hyundais and everything else. Let’s give them the best when we have the opportunity to give them.”
Parent Karen Ocasio has a daughter who attends Jefferson Elementary School. She said she likes the communication she has with the staff at her child’s school. But she said she is concerned about salaries at the administration level. There are about 2,199 employees in the Allentown School District, with 1,309 teachers; 753 support staff and 139 administrators.
"Anyone who works for a government entity or [the] public, they should know the main priority is to serve and they should understand that we're limited on a budget and that their pay is not going to be as if they go to a private entity."
The school board plans to vote on the preliminary budget at its May 25th meeting. The deadline for the district to adopt the final budget is June 22nd.
