Keystone Exams face growing opposition; health care eligibility audit discussed
By Karen Cresta, Correspondent, The Times
EAST MARLBOROUGH – Taxes for the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District would increase beyond the state’s Act 1 limits, if the Board of Education opts to adopt the $79.2 million proposed budget discussed in some detail during Monday night’s board work session — meanwhile growing area opposition to the use of the Keystone Exam as a graduation requirement could mean changes on the horizon.
Although the budget doesn’t require final approval until the end of June (the board is expected to give final budget approval at its June 15 meeting), the heavy lifting of the budget process is underway. A public hearing on the budget is already slated for next month — and final decisions on whether to push taxes beyond the 1.9% Act 1 index limit, and if so, how much, are only now starting to come into focus.
The proposed budget currently comes in at $79,237,362, a drop from the preliminary budget of $80,901.704 released in February.
In terms of total spending, this budget proposal is an increase of 4.28% from the 2014-2015 school year — and would mean an average tax rate increase of 2.89% — an increase of 2.69% for Chester County taxpayers and an increase of 3/74% for Delaware County taxpayers.
The proposed budget requires the use of $584,585 of exceptions to the state’s Act 1 limits, currently allowed for increases in pension costs and special education costs — which officials say would give the district the most flexibility moving forward.
The key changes from the preliminary budget include items such as salary revisions, medical benefit revisions, liquid fuel costs being more than $100,000 based on bids, incorporation of Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed budget, including cyber charter schools, and adjustments to the budgetary reserves.
All board members were urged to review all eight sections of the budget book in detail and circulate any questions to the entire board via e-mail. The board is expected to review and approve the preliminary proposed budget at its May 11 work session. Prior to that, there will be a public hearing on May 4 (May 5 and 6, if needed) in the district office and three options will be presented regarding different scenarios using the fund budget.
The budget may continue to change by the June 30 deadline when the adoption of the final budget and levying of real estate taxes is scheduled. The complete proposed preliminary final budget is published under the board documents at www.ucfsd.org.
There were a number of other noteworthy items on a busy agenda — with a packed house in the district’s large meeting room, thanks to the attendance of many district teachers, members of the Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Association, the teacher’s union. The district’s contract with its 300-plus teachers expires at the end of June — and while there have been some public exchanges, regular talks continue toward a new fact, with the two parties still showing some differences over wages and salary.
Other topics of discussion included: the board reviewed the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU) budget, which is expected to remain constant from previous years.
Board member Michael Rock reported on the CCIU legislation meeting. Rock reviewed Gov. Wolf’s state budget increase proposal — which remains subject to approval by the state legislature — and how it correlates to performance indicators such as decreasing achievement gaps and increasing graduation rates.
“The district will have to show improvement to get funding,” Rock informed the board.
Rock also discussed the growing opposition in many area school districts with high stakes testing – such as with Keystone Exams. Starting with the Class of 2017, all state high school students will be required to have a proficient score in Algebra, Biology and Literature exams in order to graduate. If they cannot pass they will be required to do a project based assessment – at additional unknown costs to the district.
The high number of standardized test-prep hours impacting school days — correlated with the stakes of the testing and what that cost may be to the district is unknown. More discussions on how students prepare and possible impact for Keystones will take place in June.
The board will be looking into a health care dependent eligibility audit for all its employees by Reschini. There is a possibility that all district employees will be required to provide documentation (marriage certificates, birth certificates, tax returns, etc.) as proof of claimed dependents. The board needs to gather more information from Reschini on expectations of doing such an audit and will report back to the board.
The board reviewed updates to four school policies regarding board meeting attendance via electronic communications, facility use fees, volunteer security clearances, and bullying. Much discussion was based on whether board members should be able to remotely attend executive sessions and risk confidentiality exposure. A preliminary head count indicated that it was not necessary to add verbiage to exclude permitting electronic communications. The board would continue to use discretion and make exceptions as situations arose. All policies and the proposed updates can be viewed under board documents. The board will be voting on the final updates at the regular meeting next week.
The board will also vote in May on the final schedule of the board meetings for 2015-2016.
Superintendent John Sanville and President Vic Dupuis will present two options to the board for rescheduling Monday meetings that fall on days that school is not in session.
According to board member Carolyn Daniels, the next UCFConnect magazine will be circulated in late May and it will be the third publication to more than 9,500 district residents at no cost to them. She indicated that no tax dollars are expended to create, print or mail the publication.
The district announced that Kelli Kahn, first grade teacher at Pocopson Elementary, is one of the finalists for the Citadel Heart of Learning Award and is being recognized for her excellence in teaching. Kahn will be honored with the other finalists in the Chester County school districts on May 5 at an award banquet. She will receive $500 for her classroom and three grand prize winners will be announced.
