Northern Lehigh School District continues to piece together its 2022-2023 spending plan.

Sherri Molitoris, Director of Business Affairs, Business & Human Resource Officer, said, “We are still working on additions and deletions from the current budget.”

The board is slated to approve the tentative budget in May.

Food services

Superintendent Matthew J. Link discussed COVID-19 effects on food services, and said there was loss of revenue from monthly general operating profits, as well as average daily losses from a la carte sales, minor catering and less overall participation.

Lunches have been free to students.

“That is set to end at the end of this school year,” Link said. “We are hopeful that we’ll be able to pay for lunches through the summer for our summer programs by qualifying for their Seamless Summer Option, and there recently was some bills put forward in the month of March to try to extend the free lunch program for students.”

The program could be extended through September of 2023. “We are preparing as if that’s not going to happen so we can actively communicate with parents to begin filling out free and reduced lunch applications as we move into the new school year. Those applications will be opened on July 1.”

Link said the district can recoup some lost revenue during the summer feeding program approved by USDA through the end of the 2021-2022 school year, and also mentioned generous donations from various community groups and individuals.

Staffing

Staffing levels projected for the 2022-2023 school year include positions funded through Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds, an additional elementary special education teacher; elementary classroom teacher or computer/technology teacher; additional half-time middle school position; and addition of school police officer.

The school police officer is not new. Link said, “That’s taking a position that has to this point been funded through grant funds and putting it into the administrative support staff work group to become part of our general operating budget in case those grant funds however would ever go away.

“However, if that switch is approved, it is absolutely the intent of the administration to continue to apply for the grants that are available to fund that position,” he said. “We just want to be prepared if those grants go away that we still have two police offices on this campus and also at Peters Elementary School.”

In January, the board adopted the Act 1 tax levy resolution to not exceed the 4.6% tax rate index in property taxes for the 2022-2023 school year.

“If we do put about $400,000 back into fund balance, we will end the end of the June 2022 school year with $12.6 million in fund balance,” Molitoris said.

Buildings

At Peters Elementary, the district hopes to integrate computer technology instruction into library classes; add an additional kindergarten teacher, final decision determined by enrollment; relocate one paraprofessional to Slatington Elementary School; and no budgetary increase for materials or programs.

Recommendations for Slatington Elementary are to add a special-education teacher due to caseload sizes; integrate computer technology instruction into library classes; and no budgetary increase for materials or programs.

At Northern Lehigh Middle School, the plan is to increase the current half-time Family Consumer Science position to a full-time, with the additional responsibility for career readiness and positive behavior support. There is no budgetary increase for materials or programs.

Northern Lehigh High School staffing will remain the same.

Cost drivers

Molitoris said primary cost drivers for the 2022-2023 school year that have increased include salaries ($345,557); retirement/PSERS ($222,336); medical ($228,908); Social Security ($48,284); Lehigh Career & Technical Institute ($99,372), and charter school and outplacement potential increases.

Molitoris said that with a 4.6% Act I tax increase, the district would realize an additional $813,041 in tax revenue.

State revenues could increase $768,437 in additional revenue for Basic Education Funding, and $232,801 in additional revenue for Special Education Funding.

“We have not budgeted that into the budget at this point in time because we don’t know where it’s going to land,” Molitoris said. “We are proposing to use fund balance, so what would happen is if we do use fund balance and any of this is realized and it’s not in the budget, it just means that we would use less fund balance than what we’re projecting because we would have all this additional revenue coming in.”

Total expenditures are $37,785,181, with revenues at $35,715,386, which has a total tax increase of a 4.6% built into it, which is the $813,041.

If the board chooses to go less than that, the budget shortfall would be more than the budget shortfall of $2,069,795.

A 4.6% tax increase would bring the district short $2.9 million.

The tentative big picture shows expenditures of $37,785,181, and revenues at $35,715,386, for a budget shortfall of $2,069,795.

Molitoris said the estimated fund balance for the 2022-2023 school year, if the district utilizes $2,069,795, would be $10,548,029. If it does anything less than that, it will lower the amount of fund balance left at the end of the year, she said.

The annual tax increase on a median assessed home at $149,000 in Lehigh County would be a $144 tax increase for the year, and for Northampton County, a median assessed valued home at $45,850 would be $165.

She noted the district lives in a dual county, which means it must equalize mills between both counties.

The governor’s budget calls for potential additional revenues of $768,437 for Basic Education, and $232,801 for Special Education not in the current numbers.

“If those do come through, we’re going to have almost $1 million in additional revenues that are not currently built into this year’s budget.”

Administration

Link said administrative recommendations are a tax increase and utilization of fund balance to generate some revenue for the upcoming year; continue to look for grant revenue opportunities to fund positions such as school police officer and social worker; and continue to search for expenditure saving options such as utilities, transportation, and staffing.

Molitoris noted that a 4.6% increase is the “worst-case scenario.”

Last June, the board approved the budget with a 2% increase.