PRINT ARTICLE

Print    Close This Window
School Board approves the 2018-19 final budget

Shaler Area School Board of Directors approved the 2018-19 school year final budget during its June 20 voting meeting. The $84,967,675 budget, which passed with a 6-3 vote, continues the district’s commitment to supporting quality educational initiatives and improving the safety and security of the district’s facilities. 

The 2018-19 budget includes revenues of $81,788,972. Shaler Area will close the budgetary gap using $2.8 million of its fund balance, and a 0.25-mill increase, which will generate approximately $400,000 additional revenue. The new millage rate will be 23.5319 mills. The increase will add an additional $2.60 monthly, or $31.18 annually, to a homeowner’s tax bill with an assessed property value of $124,700, the median assessed property value in Shaler Area School District. The millage increase is about 1.1 percent increase over the 2017-18 millage rate and 35 percent of the district’s total allowable Act 1 Index cost of living adjustment.

The district recognizes the burden of a tax increase on taxpayers and will continue to scrutinize each expenditure in order to ensure operational efficiency and fiscal responsibility. 

The 2018-19 budget includes an overall increase of approximately 1.33 percent over the 2017-18 budget.

The proposed final budget continues Shaler Area’s commitment to quality educational programing through supporting the following projects:

  • Continuation of the Project ACE 1:1 iPad initiative;
  • Upgrading the district’s student management system, gradebook, and parent portal;
  • Piloting a new reading series in Kindergarten through sixth-grade;
  • Purchasing new science textbooks at the high school level;
  • Increasing professional development to support the change to block scheduling in math and English language arts at the middle school.

The proposed final budget also continues Shaler Area’s commitment to the safety and security of its facilities and designates funds for the following projects:

  • Completion of Scott Primary School construction;
  • Enhancing the exterior and emergency lighting at Burchfield Primary, Marzolf Primary, and Shaler Area Elementary School;
  • Constructing a captured vestibule at Reserve Primary;
  • Improving the entrance at Shaler Area Elementary School.

While the budget features several line item decreases such as professional services and transportation, the budget does include increases to salaries and benefits—the largest portion of the district’s budget. Salaries increased 2.47 percent or approximately $900,000, and benefits increased 3.46 percent or $828,000, of this increase, $644,000 accounts for the state mandated retirement system increase. 

Since the 2016-17 school year, the district instituted an aggressive attrition model to reduce salaries and benefits. The district will continue to use this model to minimize the overall increase in salaries and benefits in the 2018-19 budget and into the future. Fiscal responsibility and operational efficiency remain at the forefront of the district’s priorities, and administration continues to look for creative ways to utilize staff, generate resources, and reduce spending while maintaining the integrity of the academic programs. 

The budget is available for public inspection on the Business Office webpage or in person at the Administrative Offices, at 1800 Mt. Royal Blvd., during business hours. Final approval of the 2018-19 budget is scheduled for the June 20 School Board Voting Meeting.