Superintendent Dr. Michael Schilder and Business Administrator Robert Saul presented the proposed final budget to the East Penn School District Board of School Directors for review and discussion at the April 10 meeting. A vote on the budget will be taken at the May 8 meeting.

“The tax increase with this budget is 2.9 percent,” Schilder said. “The budget term reserve is little bit over $7 million which represents a five percent budgetary reserve.”

He added the budget includes district prioritized needs while it partially addresses the technology plan presented last October for about $680,000. It includes improving the elementary science program, placing a Communities in Schools representative in Emmaus High School to serve student mental health issues, and fills personnel needs, including adding a Lower Macungie Middle School teacher, middle school psychologist, EHS special education teacher and curriculum and instruction supervisor.

During his presentation, Saul pointed out changes from the preliminary plan which showed a real estate assessment increase and a tax rate reduction from 3.7 percent to 2.9 percent increase. Under expenditures, Saul announced medical insurance costs were less than anticipated after final negotiations with HighMark. He said he anticipates a decrease in costs for regular bus transportation, but sees an increase in costs for intermediate unit transportation. By consolidating routes for transportation to non-public schools, the district should continue to see some savings.

“The Hamilton Crossings TIF, tax increment financing project, is hitting our tax rolls next year,” Saul said, regarding his long-range fiscal and capital plan assumptions. The tax receipts given back to the TIF will impact revenue. The owners pay full taxes but 50 percent of the revenue goes back to the Lehigh County Economic Development Corporation for site prep. The newly opened shopping center is built on a former iron ore surface mine where the ground had to be stabilized before construction began.

Board president Alan Earnshaw and several board members praised the work done on the final budget and were grateful the tax increase was brought down to 2.9 percent.

Schilder asked the board to consider taking $848,000 from the budgetary reserve, reducing it to 4.37 percent, in order to fully fund the technology plan. Carol Allen stated her reluctance to his request, saying the younger students in kindergarten through grade two should be learning reading, writing, cursive writing and math. In her opinion, the older kids should be the ones to have access to computers.

Schilder announced a PlanCon hearing is scheduled in the administration building conference room noon to 4 p.m. May 4. PlanCon, an acronym for Planning and Construction Workbook, is a set of forms and procedures used to apply for Commonwealth reimbursement when a school district undertakes a major school construction project and seeks reimbursement from the state. The office of Senator Pat Brown, R-16th, requested the event which will be open to the public.

Schilder announced the full-day kindergarten board presentation has been rescheduled from May 22 to June 12.

Partnering with the Rotary Club, the school district will welcome three teachers from Zambia April 24 through May 8 as part of the Rotary Club’s exchange program.

About 550 MacBook Air laptops were given to teachers at the March 10 in-service day where they learned how to use them during an “outstanding rollout,” according to Schilder.

EHS German students won first place in a state competition at Penn State for the fifth time in six years. The EHS boys basketball team closed the PIAA Class 6A season by placing fifth in the state, according to the superintendent.

The board voted unanimously to accept the resignations of head wrestling coach Jeffrey Arbushites, staff assistants Rebecca Arnold and Jennifer Bannon, instructional assistant Amy Jo Glynn and middle school special education supervisor Kristin Holst, as well as, ESL teacher Sandra Teplitz’s retirement.

After much discussion, the East Penn School District Board of School Directors voted to table a proposed deal between adidas and the school district with six “ayes“ and two “nays.” Although the administration was able to get the sportswear company to reduce the length of the contract from five to four years, board members still had their doubts. Most agreed with Paul Champagne who still worried about “the rights of first refusal” and “termination” language in conjunction with the absence of a “sunset” clause.

Although Earnshaw considered the deal a “total win for the district,” the administration must go back to adidas and try to add “natural sunset” wording found on an email from the sportswear giant added to the contract at the board‘s request.

Emmaus resident Lynn Donches questioned the four-year adidas agreement saying, “A lot can happen in retail …” and asking where is the language that allows the school to seek better priced merchandise if the prices go up on the adidas equipment?

During a request to address the board, resident John Donches, referring to a previous meeting, opined the district doesn’t have a substitute problem, it has a problem with allowing teachers too much time off in their contracts.

In other matters, Earnshaw announced a public auction of the Lehigh Career and Technical Institute house project is scheduled for May 7.

Director Charles Ballard updated the board on the state education budget which is still in flux.

Schilder said the administration is working to create an organized administration regulation reference folder and promised to have it ready by January 2018.