Salisbury Township School District school board members and administrators would like all Salisbury students who attend charter schools to come back to the district.

The persistent frustration of funding charter schools and providing transportation to those schools continues to be a challenge for the district and was discussed in detail at the budget update provided at the March 3 operations committee meeting.

The projected cost of funding charter schools in the 2014-2015 school year is $806,886. That number does not include the additional expense of transporting the students to those schools.

Board members are also frustrated with the continued misleading advertisements on billboards, radio and television regarding charter schools. Public schools are not permitted to advertise their services.

The proposed final 2014-2015 budget shows a deficit of $1,380,331. Board members said if the estimated number of charter school students returned to Salisbury, the projected tax increase to cover the difference would be greatly reduced.

As per the board's request, Business Administrator Robert Bruchak provided a 5-year analysis of previous preliminary budgets.

For the 2008-2009 budget, the tax rate was 43.314 mills for a preliminary budget of $32,778,530. The preliminary budget deficit was $1,208,020. The preliminary tax on an average residence was $3,183 and the average residential preliminary tax increase was $105.33. Salisbury ranked fifth out of nine countywide in millage rate with one being the highest. There were 253 staff members and 1,719 students.

For the 2009-2010 budget, the tax rate was 44.036 mills for a preliminary budget of $28,479,599. The preliminary budget deficit was $558,144. The preliminary tax on an average residence was $3,236 and the average residential preliminary tax increase was $53.07. Salisbury ranked fourth out of nine countwide in millage rate. There were 251 staff members and there were 1,670 students.

For the 2010-2011 budget, the tax rate was 45.445 mills for a preliminary budget of $30,992,504. The preliminary budget deficit was $1,156,728. The preliminary tax on an average residence was $3,340 and the average residential preliminary tax increase was $103.56. Salisbury ranked fifth out of nine countywide in millage rate. There were 249 staff members and 1,629 students.

For the 2011-2012 budget, with a new governor, the tax rate was 46.8538 mills for a preliminary budget of $30,733,246. The preliminary budget deficit was $2,340,447. The preliminary tax on an average residence was $3,443 and the average residential preliminary tax increase was $103.55. Salisbury ranked fifth out of the nine countywide in millage rate. There were 240 staff members and 1,608 students.

For the 2012-2013 budget, the tax rate was 48.754 mills for a preliminary budget of $30,791,297. The preliminary budget deficit was $1,420,806. The preliminary tax on an average residence was $3,583 and the average residential preliminary tax increase was $139.66. Salisbury ranked fifth out of nine countywide in millage rate. There were 228 staff and 1,592 students.

For the 2013-2014 budget, the tax rate was 16.9203 mills (due to reassessment) for a preliminary budget of $31,638,041. The preliminary budget deficit was $934,844. The preliminary tax on an average residence was $3,495 and the average residential preliminary tax increase was $118.08. Salisbury ranked third out of nine countywide in millage rate, which Bruchak said was based on the Lehigh County reassessment. There are 241 staff and 1,618 students.

For the preliminary 2014-2015 budget approved by the board, the tax rate is 16.9203 mills for a preliminary budget of $33,113,836. The preliminary budget deficit is $1,380,331. The preliminary tax on the average residence allowed is $3,649 and the average residential tax increase allowed is $118.11.

Since board approval on the preliminary budget, adjustments have been made with a budget now of $33,052,164 and a deficit of $1,325,915. Bruchak said additional adjustments are expected.

Bruchak provided the board with a county millage rate chart from the Lehigh County website showing the nine districts and rankings. For the 2013-2014 school year, Northern Lehigh had the highest millage at 20.1681, followed by Allentown at 17.3155, Salisbury at 16.9203, Catasauqua at 16.3100, East Penn at 16.1259, Northwestern Lehigh at 15.9631, Southern Lehigh at 15.3700, Whitehall-Coplay at 14.9259 and Parkland at 13.9300.

Board members responded to Bruchak's presentation.

"The general public doesn't understand the increases are due to PSERS (Public School Employees' Retirement System) and cyber charter schools," Sam DeFrank said. "We need to educate them."

Audrey Frick agreed. "We need to provide the best education for the students."

Mary Ziegler also agreed and said a big challenge is when "the largest landholder doesn't pay taxes because they are non-profit."

Superintendent Michael Roth said balancing the budget for public schools continues to be a challenge because the public schools are constantly being told to operate more efficiently.

"We're funding peoples' special interests," Russell Giordano said. "Ice skating, horseback riding, etc. it's out of control."

Roth said the one-to-one laptop initiative has kept students at Salisbury and has made the district "more attractive to parents."

The next operations meeting will be held 7 p.m. April 7 at the administration building. An update to the budget and an analysis of the 5-year projections are expected.