A nearly $115 million preliminary budget for 2021-22 has been approved for Northampton Area School District.

The NASD Board of Education voted 8-1 to approve the preliminary budget of $114,852,606, food service fund of $2,502,658 and athletic fund of $257,494.

“This budget will change and change and change until June when it’s approved,” NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said before the budget vote at the Jan. 25 board meeting in the Northampton Area Middle School cafeteria.

“It’s because of local, state and federal revenue. We’ll provide updates, most likely monthly,” Kovalchik said.

School district budgets must be approved by June 30 in Pennsylvania.

Kovalchik said NASD has not received funding notification under the Coronavirus Response & Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA), signed into law Dec. 27, 2020, and the Elementary & Secondary Emergency Relief Fund.

An anticipated $2 million-plus in CRRSA funds is not included on the revenue side of the 2021-22 preliminary budget.

The preliminary budget is available for public inspection at least 20 days before adoption. Public notice of the board’s intent to adopt the preliminary budget has been given at least 10 days in advance in adherence to Act 1.

The 2021-22 preliminary general fund budget, the budget presentation made at the Jan. 11 school board meeting and, for comparison, the 2020-21 final general fund budget can be found on the NASD website at nasdschools.org/Page/28.

The school board also voted 8-1 to approve the NASD administration to seek exceptions from the Pennsylvania Department of Education allowed under Act 1. If approved, NASD can increase the tax rate by more than the Act 1 index.

The 2021-22 Act 1 Index is 3.7 percent, the highest percentage of tax increase NASD is allowed by the PDE. For previous budgets, NASD has applied for and received Act 1 exceptions, allowed for school construction, special education expenditures and retirement contributions, but has never implemented the exceptions.

Voting against the preliminary budget and the approval to seek exceptions was school Director Roy Maranki.

The school board voted 9-0 for authorization to advertise the intent to seek exceptions in a newspaper of general circulation and on the NASD website at least one week before submitting the request to the PDE.

A moment of silence at the start of the Jan. 25 meeting honored Jessica Ann Finlayson, 28, a Northampton Area Middle School teacher and Northampton Area High School girls varsity volleyball coach.

“She died Friday night (Jan. 22) after a long battle with cancer,” said Kovalchik, adding, “She was teaching recently and completing course work. She was a young lady. She accomplished a lot in her short life.”

Several residents, among eight present at the Jan. 25 meeting, complained about the NASD hybrid system of education implemented in an attempt to mitigate community spread of COVID-19.

As of Jan. 26, based on tallies in administration letters to parents, guardians and staff compiled by Northampton Press, the district has reported nearly 200 confirmed coronavirus cases since the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.

Doug Vaughn and his wife, Renee, spoke at the meeting on behalf of their son, Nate, a fifth-grader at Lehigh Elementary School.

“We feel it would be a benefit for a student to be with a teacher in the classroom teaching rather than self-teaching,” Doug Vaughn said.

“We will be putting into place livestreaming for students who are at home,” Dr. Michelle Schoeneberger, director of curriculum and instruction, said.

Kim Bretzik, of Chapman, who has one child enrolled in NAMS and one child in NAHS, asked, among other things, about PSSA and Keystone testing for students.

“We’re not sure of what we have to do,” Kovalchik said, indicating PDE is to announce guidance on testing.

January is Pennsylvania School Boards Association’s School Board Appreciation Month. Because of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention protocol, the traditional presentation of elementary school students’ posters and cookies and coffee to NASD school directors didn’t take place at the Jan. 25 meeting. Instead, each school director was presented an NASD coffee mug.

The NASD school board is next scheduled to meet 7 p.m. Feb. 8 in the cafeteria of NAMS, 1617 Laubach Ave., Northampton. The public meeting requires a COVID-19 check-in list, hand-sanitizer use, wearing of face masks and social distancing, per CDC guidelines.