Northampton Area School District stands to receive nearly half a million dollars in additional funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) in the 2016-17 Pennsylvania budget.

The school district expects to receive $453,969 from the PDE, which includes $397,193 for basic education and $56,776 for special education, NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik reported at the July 25 board of education meeting.

“Terry (Leh, NASD business administrator) will put that back into the fund balance,” Kovalchik said.

The NASD fund balance was $1,946,000 for the 2014-15 school year and $2,900,000 for the 2015-16 school year and is $3,600,000 for the 2016-17 school year.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed an approximate $1.3 billion tax and revenue package July 13 in order to help balance the $31.5 billion state budget passed at the end of June.

The commonwealth budget includes $750 million in new state taxes and revenues, with about $495 million expected from a 62.5-percent increase in the $1.60-per-pack cigarette tax to $2.60 per pack, as of Aug. 1.

In other business at the July 25 school board meeting, Kovalchik said he’s monitoring the fall 2016 projected kindergarten enrollment in the district, especially at Moore Elementary School, Moore Township. Some additional kindergarten students may enroll at Moore.

“We may come back to the board and recommend a kindergarten teacher for Moore,” Kovalchik noted.

The district’s 2016-17 general fund budget has about $468,000 in the contingency fund, a portion of which could be used to fund a teaching position.

A decision on the possible hiring of a teacher is expected to be made this month.

The NASD school board next meets 6:30 p.m. Aug. 8 in the meeting room of the administration building, 2014 Laubach Ave., Northampton.

Kovalchik said the PDE PlanCon reimbursement payment for previous district construction projects, including George Wolf Elementary School, Bath; Borough Elementary Schools, Northampton; and Northampton Area High School, Northampton, is now expected to be received by the district in September or October.

PlanCon reimbursements for 2015-16 are approximately $927,000 and for 2016-17 are approximately $600,000. The reimbursements are not for the Northampton Area Middle School and Secondary Campus Renovation Project.

“As long as you’re paying on the bonds, you can qualify for the reimbursement,” explained Leh.

Also at the July 25 meeting, school directors voted 8-0, with one director absent, to approve the hiring of:

• Elyse Matika, PE reading specialist, Lehigh Elementary School, effective Aug. 22, at $57,233 with benefits;

• Victoria Milano, long-term substitute English teacher, Northampton Area High School, effective Aug. 22, for the 2016-17 school year, at $47,720, with benefits;

• Luz Boyer, NASD office data secretary, effective Aug. 8, at $16.44 per hour, with benefits, funded by the Keystones to Opportunity Grant; and

• Patricia McGee, 12-month Northampton Area High School secretary, effective Aug. 8, at $17.47 per hour, with benefits.

The board also approved the attendance of Kovalchik at the Lehigh University School Study Council 2016 Study Tour to the Bank Street College of Education, Sept. 27-30, at an approximate cost of $750.