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LEWISTOWN – As he begins preparations for crafting a budget for 2018-19, Mifflin County School District Superintendent James Estep said Thursday that the proposed budget offered by Governor Tom Wolf last week, if passed as is, won't create much of an impact on the local school numbers.
During a committee-of-the-whole meeting on Thursday, Estep said the budget proposal Wolf presented on Feb. 6 includes a $100 million increase in basic education spending and $20 million more for special education.
"In a perfect world and the legislature passes the governor's proposal, that would give the Mifflin County School District about $360,000 in new dollars," Estep said. Not much help in terms of next year's expenses, he added.
"For example, we have negotiated with Highmark not to raise health insurance rates any more than five percent," he pointed out. To budget five percent out of the current $8 million we spend on health care, we're talking $400,000 and that wipes that (state increase) out. And that's if the budget passes as is."
Estep said the district continues to look at ways to save money. He noted that when he became superintendent, the district's health insurance payments stood at $9.6 million. "We're now at $8 million for healthcare so you can see we've made a lot of changes in order to save the district money."
Estep said he likes what he sees from Wolf's efforts but, he stressed, more work needs to be done on behalf of public education.
"As superintendent, I'm appreciative that the governor has tried to put money back into public education," he said. "However, it's still not cutting it at this point. We continue to have mandated expenses to deal with the money coming in."
The remainder of Thursday's meeting was spent on discussions about the following agenda items that will be up for a vote during the board's Feb. 22 business meeting:
¯ The addition of Calvin Piper as a van driver for the school district.
¯ Approval for the qualifiers from the high school indoor track team to participate in the Indoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday, Feb. 25 at Penn State.
¯ A recommendation to approve high school courses (biology, algebra I, geometry honors, geometry and Spanish I) taken in eighth grade to count towards graduation credit and be added to the high school transcript beginning with the class of 2023. Director of Secondary Education Vance Varner said adding these to the high school transcript will allow student athletes interested in playing sports at Division I and Division II schools to become full qualifiers with the NCAA Clearinghouse at an earlier time in high school.
¯ Approval to waive the $800 fee for use of the auditorium, classroom and additional equipment at the high school for the Mifflin County Farm Bureau's "Measure the Candidates" night on May 2.
¯ The resignation from cafeteria worker Christine Myers effective Feb. 16.
¯ The retirement of Larry Reed Sr. as full-time custodian at Indian Valley Elementary Center effective Oct. 15.
¯ The retirement of William Cassner, system support specialist, effective April 2.
¯ The hiring of Tiffany Walters as a part-time cafeteria worker at East Derry Elementary School effective Feb. 26.
¯ The resignation of Junior High Volleyball Coach Jessica Smith effective Feb. 1 and change her status to volunteer junior high volleyball coach.
¯ The hiring of Jennifer Myers as a junior high volleyball coach for the 2017-18 season.
¯ Approval to post for four technology interns for the summer/fall of 2018.
¯ The retirement of Patti Shilling, paraprofessional at Lewistown Intermediate School, effective the last day of the current school year.
¯ The resignation of David Schulze, science teacher at the junior high school, effective Aug. 17.
¯ The hiring of Darlene Metz as a cafeteria substitute effective Feb. 26.