Northampton Area School District Board of Education voted to approve the 2021-22 proposed budget during the May 10 meeting.

Approved is the general fund of $116,393,720, food service fund of $2,502,658 and athletic fund of $257,494.

With the 6-2 vote approval of the 2021-22 school budget, it will be advertised and is available on the district website, nasdschools.org. Board President David Gogel and Director Roy Maranki voted against approval of the proposed budget.

“The numbers have been changing almost daily,” Gogel said. “We have until June 30 to make changes.”

The state-mandated deadline for budget approval is June 30.

“We’re still working on the budget. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get to zero? That’s where we’re headed,” Gogel said. “I’ve been on the board for 18 years, and I’ve always preached we have to stay within our means. When I first came on the board, the budget was $61 million.”

“That’s some serious numbers,” Jerry Pritchard, of Lehigh Township, said regarding the proposed budget. “Can you run the school district on that amount with no tax hike?”

NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik, noting there was a zero-percent tax hike for the 2020-21 budget, said the school board has allocated money from the district fund balance to balance the budget. In 2011-12, Kovalchik said the fund balance was approximately $15 million and is now down to about $7 million.

“If you continue to use the fund balance, you’re going to run it down to zero. And then you’re going to have a problem,” Kovalchik said.

Kovalchik cited costs that demand district funding, including an estimated $2 million for a new roof and $3.5 million for a new HVAC system at George Wolf Elementary School.

“I know your job isn’t easy,” said Paul Nikisher, of Lehigh Township. “Why couldn’t the district budget be frozen for one year?”

“It’s a very complicated budget situation,” Kovalchik said. “It’s not just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. There’s no one on the board who wants to raise taxes.”

Kovalchik reported the tax hike is currently at 1.5 percent. Noting the district average assessment of $54,900, which represents 50 percent of households in the district, the increase would be $45 annually.

The board voted 8-0 to accept the 2021-22 property tax reduction of $1,473,365.24 to reduce property taxes and set the homestead-farmstead exclusion at the same fixed amount.

In other business, the board welcomed a new school board member at the meeting. Jennifer L. Johnson, representing Moore Township and Chapman and Bath boroughs, was approved to succeed Chuck Longacre, who resigned April 12.

Serving on the NASD school board is the first public office for Johnson, an elementary school teacher who lives in Moore Township with her husband and their son, who starts at Moore Elementary School in the fall.

Johnson received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a kindergarten through sixth-grade teaching certificate from Pennsylvania State University in 2010, a master’s in educational development and strategy from Wilkes University in 2018 and is pursuing a master’s in literacy from Wilkes.

“We spent a lot of weekends in the district,” Johnson said, noting her grandmother is a longtime Northampton resident.

She moved from Bethlehem to Moore Township in 2017.

Johnson will serve until the Dec. 6 school board reorganization meeting.

“I intend to run in November,” Johnson said after she was appointed by an 8-0 vote and took the oath of office administered by Denise A. Vilkauskas, a notary public and NASD superintendent secretary.

If Johnson runs in the Nov. 2 primary, it would be for a four-year term on the NASD school board.

“I have a passion for public education, and I felt that my experience as an educator would be a valuable asset to the school district,” Johnson said.

Before being approved, there was a 10-minute question-and-answer session for Johnson, who fielded questions from directors.

School Director James Baird noted training is required for school board members. The instruction can be taken online, and Johnson said she is more than willing to complete the training.

“The people in Moore, Bath and Chapman are unique and hardworking,” Director James Chuss said.

“I would extend that kind of common-sense approach,” Johnson said regarding her philosophy about the school board. “It’s a labor of love.”

Additionally, Kovalchik announced two voluntary COVID-19 vaccine clinics are planned for May 17 and 19 to vaccinate nearly 400 NASD students at Northampton Area Middle School, in a partnership with Newhard Pharmacy.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 24 in the cafeteria at NAMS, 1617 Laubach Ave.