The Northampton Area School District 2020-21 general fund budget has been approved with no tax hike.

At the June 8 meeting, the district board of education voted 8-0, with one school director absent, to approve adoption of the final budget, which includes a general fund balance of $113,651,481, food service fund of $2,504,747 and athletic fund of $258,743.

The general fund budget is supported by no tax increase and the following tax levy. The Act 511 Local Tax Enabling Act has a per capita tax of $5, real estate transfer tax at 0.5 percent and earned income tax at 0.7 percent. Section 670 of the Pennsylvania School Code has a per capita tax of $5 and real estate tax at 54.89 mills.

School directors voted 8-0 to approve the 2020 homestead and farmstead real estate tax reduction amount at $113.65 with a real estate assessed value reduction at $2,071.

“As you well know with COVID-19, we basically started from scratch,” said NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik, regarding the creation of the 2020-21 budget. “The board instructed us to have a zero-percent-increase budget.”

Kovalchik and NASD Business Administrator Matthew Sawarynski cut approximately $1.5 million from the general fund budget, including $500,000 from technology, $225,000 from curriculum and $700,000 from unfilled staff positions.

There was $3.2 million cut from the NASD fund balance. The fund balance is now $6.7 million, which is about 5.35 percent of the typical NASD budget. The fund balance can’t go lower than 5 percent or higher than 8 percent.

The final budget approval occurred nearly seven months after the preliminary budget was introduced at the Dec. 16, 2019, school board meeting.

That was before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, bringing with it the cancellation of classes as of March 16 in NASD and a nonessential business shutdown that put an estimated 38 million Americans out of work.

“The zero-percent increase is a victory for our constituents and the school district as a whole,” said board member Roy Maranki, who spearheaded the board’s no-tax-hike vow.

“It’s my first [no-tax-hike budget] that was realized in my 17 years on the board,” board President David Gogel said. “It’s the first zero-percent increase in 25 years. I’d like to thank the administration for getting that done.”

“I’d like to thank Joe (Kovalchik) and Matt (Sawarynski),” board Vice President Chuck Frantz said. “There were some hard decisions to make. Hats off to them for a great job.”

“It’s a team effort. Look at the last five or six years at what we’ve been able to do without much help from the state or federal funding: building projects at the high school, middle school and now Lehigh Elementary and one-to-one instruction,” Kovalchik said. “Our students’ scores have increased. Our student participation in activities has increased. Our athletic program is at a point where it hasn’t been for many years. Our arts (program) has increased. That says a lot about our community. I’ve received countless emails from folks out there as to what we’ve been able to do thanks to everyone on the board.”

“I’ve had a lot of people thank me as to how Joe (Kovalchik) handled the coronavirus, especially the videos (updates to parents and guardians on the NASD website), even from other school districts. Thanks, Joe, for what you’ve done for the district,” Frantz said.

In other business, NASD has received Pennsylvania Department of Education guidance for the phased reopening of schools in advance of the 2020-21 school year. Guidance includes formulating a plan that must be approved by the school board and submitted to the state, as well as the appointment of a pandemic coordinator.

“Safety plans must be developed by school districts,” Kovalchik said. “Plans must be approved by school boards. The public must be informed. A pandemic coordinator must be appointed.”

Kovalchik said the target date to complete the NASD schools’ reopening plan is July 24.

There is a graduation ceremony scheduled for July 24 at the Al Erdosy Stadium for the Class of 2020. The format for the ceremony is expected to be announced in a video update by Kovalchik the week of June 22 on the NASD website, nasdschools.org.

The NASD school board is scheduled to meet 6:30 p.m. June 22. They will continue the virtual Google Meet format for this meeting.

The 6:30 p.m. July 13 meeting is expected to be held in person in the administration building, 2014 Laubach Ave., Northampton.