Six new or currently unfilled positions highlight Lehighton Area School District’s proposed 2023-24 budget, which was discussed for the first time Monday night during a special board meeting.

Superintendent Dr. Christina Fish outlined the need for the positions, which include a technology analyst, middle school family consumer science teacher, high school technology teacher, K-12 gifted teacher, school psychologist and a secretary who would split time between the building and grounds and finance departments.

The middle school family and consumer science teacher has been on Lehighton’s radar for several years.

“We currently only have a half-time family and consumer science teacher that we’d like to increase to a full-time position,” Fish said. “This is really affecting our ability to provide creative arts courses.”

A district-wide gifted education teacher would help Lehighton ease compliance concerns, she added. The addition of a high school technology teacher would allow the district to increase course offerings to better meet its career pathways model.

“With this tech teacher,” Fish said, “we could offer civil and architectural design options, while freeing up other staff members to focus on their core areas of wood tech and metalworking tech.”

Fish added that a technology analyst is sought to specialize in network systems and assist students with the district’s one-to-one initiative, while a second school psychologist would help take some caseload off the only one the district currently has for its more than 2,500 students.

Budget

The six positions are included in Lehighton’s budget which, although in the early phases, is estimated at $48.12 million if there is no property tax increase. That would mean a $2.37 million deficit, however, according to Business Administrator Ed Rarick.

If the budget comes in at that figure, it would be a $2.67 million increase over the current year’s budgeted expenditures.

“Of that increase,” Rarick told board members Monday night, “89% would come from salaries, benefits and purchased professional services.”

Property taxes have increased in Lehighton four out of the last 11 years for a total change of 5.45 mills. That is the second lowest increase in Carbon County over that time span with only Jim Thorpe, a much larger district, raising taxes less.

By comparison, Palmerton led the way with a 13.77-mill increase during that time followed by Panther Valley’s Schuylkill properties at 11.58 mills, Weatherly at 9.38 mills and Panther Valley’s Carbon properties at 8.87 mills.

Lehighton has turned its fund balance around going from $172,384 in 2018-19 to $8.58 million in 2021-22, boosted by a resolved PlanCon issue and the start of COVID-19 funding in 2020-21.

Rarick noted a 15% increase in projected costs for purchased services and supplies in 2023-24.

“The cost related to students in placements such as Behavioral Health Associates or the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit is increasing,” he said. “Supplies also shows a 33% increase for curriculum updates, which were paid for by the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund grants.”

Future costs

Lehighton listed the 16 capital project currently on its list to tackle at some point in the future, not necessarily the 2023-24 school year. The projects total $1.6 million in estimated cost, the most expensive of which are the recoating of the high school roof ($700,000), a high school storage facility/greenhouse ($385,000), blacktopping the middle school parking lots ($165,000), and upgrading the district’s phone system ($125,000).

“Some of these were just best guess estimates that we believe we can do for much cheaper,” Rarick said Monday. “The important thing is understanding we have to develop a plan and allocate funding for these projects in the future.”

The district has $641,000 in technology that needs to be replaced in the next three or four years, he added. Annual replacements of Chromebooks and iPads cost an average of $225,000 per year. Meanwhile, the annual cost of programming for software and licensing is around $351,000.

“A good financial plan takes account for the past, understands the position of today and plans for the future,” Rarick said. “That includes allocating funds for current capital projects and equipment replacement, as well as creating yearly set asides for long term infrastructure and renovation projects.”

Board President Joy Beers said she and fellow directors will brainstorm what additional data or information they would like to see before moving on to additional conversation concerning the budget.