K-12 News

The school board approved a preliminary budget Monday night. It does not raise property taxes in the 2023-24 school year.

They have been working without a contract since last summer and say they are overworked and short-staffed.

The two slates of candidates in the 11-person East Penn School Board race continue to spar over alleged connections to political players in and outside of the district as funding sources come to light. Election Day is Tuesday.

Take a look at stories throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

Many of the nine candidates seeking one of five seats on the board said the race has been insulated from clashes over social issues.

Lehigh Valley high school students had the opportunity to see firsthand what it's like to be a nurse. A nursing simulation was held during National Nurses Week.

Candidates have formed two groups: one made up of mostly incumbents, and the other made up of Republican challengers. Transparency, spending and projected overcrowding in the district's middle and high schools have become key issues in the race.

The Lehigh Valley STEAM Academy Charter School is seeking approval to open at an office building on South 12th Street that’s zoned for industrial uses.

The After School Satan Club met for the first time Wednesday at Saucon Valley Middle School — a little more than a week after a federal judge ordered the school district to allow three meetings by the end of the school year.

The budget includes a 2.5% increase to the millage rate, the biggest increase in seven years. The district would still have the lowest millage rate in Lehigh County.

Bethlehem Area School District teachers hit the streets on the city's South Side to help students feel comfortable transitioning to a new school experience.

A federal court judge is allowing the assistant principal who filed the civil rights lawsuit to amend his complaint. It stemmed from an altercation at a high school football game last fall.

Last year, Bethlehem Area and Allentown school districts were waitlisted to get rebate funding through the Clean School Bus program. Another round of applications for this fiscal year is open until later this month.

The Parkland School District now has two final options for how it will address projected overcrowding in its schools. A decision could come within the next two months.

The school was designated with a state Targeted Support and Improvement designation due to lagging performance by its cohort of economically disadvantaged students. Officials laid out plans to improve the issues present.

The new makerspace at Slatington Elementary School will help students learn STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) skills. It will primarily be used by an after school program called Schools & Homes In Education, or SHINE.

House Education Committee Chair Peter Schweyer said Level Up funding should be released immediately.

A bill in the state Legislature proposes to fix the problems that have put a pause on enforcement in places like Allentown and Bethlehem. And the program will expire in October unless new legislation is passed.

Allentown and Bethlehem Area school districts both get Level Up funding, which is on hold until lawmakers approve a fiscal code determining how the funds are spent.

Via of the Lehigh Valley, Bethlehem's nonprofit, has been awarded $157,750 in tax credit funds from 14 local businesses through the EITC program.

Evelyn Santana was appointed in January to fill Nick Miller's vacant seat on the board. Miller was elected to the state Senate.

The plan to bring in-house the routing of bus runs to start with 2023-24 school year was designed to save the Allentown School District money.