Facing a $1.3 million budget shortfall, the Tamaqua Area School District is looking to take drastic and dramatic cost-cutting measures across the board.

The cuts might even include elimination of school busing for students living within 1.5 miles of a school, which essentially includes every student in the Borough of Tamaqua with the exception of Owl Creek.The moves are largely the result of budget pressures caused by state funding cutbacks and unfunded mandates, say directors.At a marathon budget and committee session Tuesday at the middle school, Connie Ligenza, financial manager, outlined a general fund budget that calls for a 2.2 percent increase in revenue by hiking school district real estate taxes by .74-mill, from 33.36 mills to 34.09. The tax hike would result in a $73 increase for a house valued at $100,000.The district is looking at three main options to deal with the shortfall and the tax hike is one of many major moves.Cheerleaders, teams might be droppedBy not replacing six retiring employees the shortfall would be reduced to $819,855. But students will pay a price as well.Seeking the biggest bang for the cost-savings buck, the board voted to tentatively move forward with elimination of cheerleading, golf and boys tennis, all at the high school level, saving the district $25,000, but not without concern by the board."The public in general thinks the cheerleading program carries the school spirit," noted director Aaron Frantz.Additional curriculum changes to be submitted to the State Department of Education call for elimination of elementary school art, library, music, technology, health and physical education, all of which will affect grades K-5.Some teachers associated with the programs would lose their jobs although details were not made public. Also, it was noted that some teachers in upper grade levels could lose their jobs as well.There were almost 30 residents in attendance, with some wondering what the cuts would mean to education and activities within the district.For instance, the district's music program and its award-winning Tamaqua Area Raider Marching Band rely heavily on the feeder program from the elementary level. That program would be compromised by the cut in music education. Band director Mark Beltz showed up at the high school out of concern.State cutbacks citedSuperintendent Carol Makuta said the district is aware of the impact of the moves."We've tried hard to provide the best education we possibly could," said Makuta. She explained that the Tamaqua district historically has provided many courses and programs that weren't state mandated. Unfortunately, those will be the first to be cut due to the funding crisis felt at all school districts in the commonwealth.President Larry Wittig suggested that taking action is imperative because the opposite is unacceptable."We could fund everything and run a deficit like the federal government," he said. "But we have to deal with it now."Director Eileen Meiser spoke of the hard-to-accept implications of state cutbacks."We are not fulfilling our mission. For the state to come in and do what it's doing is not right," said Meiser.Makuta cited lack of state funding and the pressure of unfunded state mandates as two big issues that impact districts. As a result the district must reorganize the curriculum and eliminate non-mandated courses, now at the proposal stage.Ligenza said the district has done "a very good job of managing expenses to revenues," but the impact of mandates such as the district's contribution to the retirement system, which is seeing a 52 percent increase, is posing a problem for districts.Ligenza said the three-year trend reflects the budget as presented by the governor.An option included in what the district calls 'version 3,' includes a reduction in use of professional substitute teachers and disbanding of transportation for those living in town.The district would eliminate transportation for nonpublic schools as well, and would no longer do pickups at day care centers, for a total savings of $80,000.Also mentioned is the possible consolidation of buildings, or shifting some grades to new sites, along with discontinuing the $7,000 yearly donation to the Tamaqua Public Library.Ligenza said the budget would be put into proposal form on April 24, then opened for public review on April 25 until May 8.According to state requirements the budget must be adopted by June 30. Per regulations, the budget must be displayed for 10 days prior to adoption.