Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
According to a preliminary budget that was approved Tuesday evening, the Neshaminy School District plans to dip into its reserves to close a $8 million dollar budget gap for the 2016-2017 school year.
Superintendent Robert Copeland laid out the proposed $175 million budget before the school board, which then approved it.
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The superintendent cautioned the budget is preliminary and could change before the board votes on it June 16.
The budget would pull 47% of the funds in the reserve account, which currently stand around $17 million.
Neshaminy School District Business Manager Barbara Markowitz said just because $8 million from the account is budgeted, it does not mean that the full amount will be pulled. She noted that in the 2013-2014 school year the district came in under budget and did not have to pull $5.5 million from the reserve funds as it had expected.
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The spending plan includes receiving full state aid amounts proposed by Gov. Tom Wolf, Markowitz and Copeland said. Like the district, the state legislature does not have to approve a budget until June 30. Copeland said the $900,000 gap that could spring up if Wolf’s funding plan is not passed was proposed. Funds to fill the additional gap would also come from the reserves account.
Copeland heralded money saved from bringing some students back into the district from the Bucks County Intermediate Unit. He also noted on a plan to equip fifth and sixth grades with iPads, purchase new textbooks, add a new reading program in the elementary schools and restore some world language classes at the middle schools.
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With district consolidation going into place, Copeland said six positions will be eliminated but several more will be added in other parts of the district.
Copeland cautioned the board and residents that he could not fend off tax increases forever due to the rising cost of education.
