The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
Oxford school board braces for budget cuts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
By MARCELLA PEYRE-FERRY, Special to the Local News
LOWER OXFORD — Members of Oxford Area School Board were prepared for Gov. Tom Corbett's budget to cut funding for basic education, but they didn't know the cuts would go as far as they did.
When Oxford began preparing its draft budget for 2011-12, the board anticipated a 10 percent cut to the state funding for basic education and planned accordingly. What they did not anticipate was the elimination of three line items that reduce Oxford's funding by an additional $1.8 million.
The biggest hit for Oxford comes from the elimination of the state's charter school subsidy that takes away $1.2 million. Also being cut are funding for middle and high school tutoring and the Accountability Block Grant which funds ESL teachers, two regular education teachers and a special-education teacher.
"Our challenge is now to find areas in the budget where we can make up the $1.8 million shortfall," superintendent Raymond Fischer said. Fischer told the board that he will work with the administration to propose additional cuts for the next budget committee meeting along with a cost-benefit analysis. "Every budget item will be on the table for review."
Finance committee chair Joe Scheese explained that the board was ready for the 10 percent cut, but not the additional items that effectively turn it into an 18 percent cut. "I made the commitment at the town hall meeting, that if we had the 10 percent reduction the kids would not see any program cuts," he stated. "We probably are going to see some changes. They are probably going to walk farther to bus stops, they are probably going to walk farther to schools. We'll bring it all back to the board for our April work session, put it all out on the table, then the board will have to make a decision."
Scheese noted that the change to eliminate the charter school subsidy and put the cost of those students back on the district could be a sign of other changes that will cost the public schools. "Any voucher program coming in the future is probably going to come out of our pocket as well," he said.
The most controversial item of the board meeting concerned approval of a district wide teacher survey. The Oxford Education Association President Pamela Brown spoke against the survey; while denying rumors that the teachers' union was stalling the survey that was proposed back in October. "Please do not use the association as a scapegoat," she said.
The board voted on a motion to conduct a survey, without specifying the contents, but they could not agree on the results. There were four yes and three no votes, with member Kurt Haegele abstaining, but board president Jason Brady questioned if he could abstain without cause such as a conflict of interest.
"It's become a long term fiasco that's amounted to zero value at this point," Haegele said, refusing to vote for or against a survey.
Board member Mike Alexander, who voted against the survey, challenged the aye vote of James Dale Cornelius on the grounds that Cornelius has a conflict of interest because his wife is a teacher.
Cornelius supported the survey as a way "to get an unfiltered response from teacher what it is like to teach in Oxford," he said. "Where better to get information about teaching and learning than the teachers themselves?"
There was also the question of whether the motion passed because even at 4-3 in favor, there was not a majority of the full board, or the board present. With no clarity, the board decided to research the rules of order and possibly vote again when the full board is present.
The board did approve a motion initiated by Dominic Pirocchi to have all of the school board's public meetings recorded and shown on local cable television. Currently only the monthly regular meeting and work session are being recorded.
Alexander opposed the action but did not cast a vote against the measure, which passed with only Howard Robinson voting no.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/17/news/srv0000011172938.prt
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