SAINT CLAIR — As it predicted in May, the Saint Clair Area school board Wednesday approved its spending plan the 2016-17 school year with a tax increase.
At the board’s June meeting Wednesday night at its elementary/middle school at 227 S. Mill St., it approved a general budget of $10,305,426. It approved a 1.17-mill real estate tax increase. The millage for 2016-17 will be 35.67 mills, or $3.56 on every $100 of assessed valuation.
“We brought full-day kindergarten back. We don’t know what’s going to happen with the Schuylkill Mall, with that current situation. We’re planning ahead. We still don’t have art. We still don’t have Spanish. We have classroom sizes, in some grade levels, of 30 or more. And with the increases in PSERS (Public School Employees’ Retirement System) we have to plan ahead,” Jason Bendle, the district’s superintendent and principal, said.
For the 2015-16 school year, the board adopted a $9,901,934 spending plan with a tax increase, hiking the millage rate from 32.35 to 34.5.
For the 2016-17 school year, the board did not raise the taxes beyond an index calculated by the state Department of Education, Terry Schane, business manager for Saint Clair Area, said. She was referring to Section 311(d)(1) of the Special Session Act 1 of 2006.
All other members of the board present Wednesday voted in favor of the motions: board President Michael Holobetz; board Vice President Jeanette Zembas; board Treasurer Erin Murhon, and board members Marlene Cook, Robert Matlock, Kathleen Modica and Brian Regnier.
Absent was board member Virginia Bartashus.
Following are the salaries for Saint Clair Area administrators for the 2015-16 and the 2016-17 school years: Bendle, superintendent/principal, $84,711.56, $92,475; Schane, business manager/office manager, $53,850, $55,500; Kacie Fetterolf, special education coordinator, $45,850, $47,500; and Sam Kochenberger, dean of students/IT coordinator, $42,000, $44,062.50.
In other matters at Wednesday’s meeting, the board hired Allison Cleary as a middle school English teacher with a 2016-17 salary of $31,500 and hired Josh Oldman as a K-8 music teacher with a 2016-17 salary of $31,500.
The board also hired Erin Trezise as a special education teacher with a 2016-17 salary of $31,500, and approved her for the Extended School Year Program at an hourly rate as per contract, Bendle said.
Schane also announced that Saint Clair Area will begin holding its “Free Summer Meals” for children 18 and younger will be held at two locations this year from Monday to Aug. 5.
At the Saint Clair Elementary/Middle School, there will be breakfast from 8 to 8:30 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, Schane said.
At 15 Macomb St., New Philadelphia, there will be lunches from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Monday through Friday, Schane said.