WILMINGTON AREA SCHOOLS Board OKs budget by 7-2 vote

A state grant will be used to reduce kindergarten class sizes.
By LAURA MILOSER
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- The adoption of the 2004-05 Wilmington Area School District's budget did not receive full support.
The board adopted the $15,428,815 budget by a 7-2 vote Monday. Board President Richard Houlette and members Nancy Bretz, John Fauzey, Dave Martin, Scott McGrath, John Shaw and William Taylor voted in favor of the measure; members Lynn Foltz and Marie Winter voted against it.
Taxes will increase 1.5 mills in Lawrence County and 4 mills for Mercer County taxpayers.
Superintendent Dr. C. Joyce Nicksick said a taxpayer with a home assessed at $100,000 in Lawrence County will pay an additional $150 per year, while Mercer County residents will pay an extra $100 per year for a home of the same value.
Foltz stated after the meeting that she was not comfortable taking 30 percent away from the district's fund balance. "I think this is an unstable move," she said.
Nicksick said the district drew $665,802 from the fund balance to balance the budget.
"The governor cannot gamble with our children's education," Foltz said, suggesting the state should consider refiguring the basic and special education funding formulas.
"I would have preferred an additional fund balance," she said.
Nicksick said she'd rather see a lower fund balance than increased taxes. "In this day and age it doesn't take very long for a major expenditure to eat into the savings."
Kindergarten size
A Pennsylvania Department of Education Accountability Block Grant will be used to reduce class size in the district's kindergarten classes.
The $155,000 grant requires that the kindergarten classes be no larger than 17 pupils.
The district added an additional half-day kindergarten, and increased the total number to six half-day sessions.
The board set the following pay rates: substitute teachers, $65.00 per day; support staff substitute, $6.05 per hour; crossing guard, $14.30 per day; driver education behind the wheel $87 for six hours; driver education administration, $14.50 per pupil; and homebound instruction, $14 per hour.
Nicksick was approved to serve as the chief school administrator for the Lawrence County Area Vocational Technical School.
A Lawrence County school district superintendent fills this position on an annual rotating basis.
The board approved the hiring of Cortney Pasko of West Leechburg, Pa., as long-term music teacher at New Wilmington Elementary.
Pasko will fill the vacancy created by Cynthia Magyary's sabbatical.