BY SUSAN BRYANT

sbryant@tnonline.com

The Federal Funding Summary and the possibly dissolution of the Federal Department of Education were topics of discussion Feb. 19 at the Northwestern Lehigh School Board meeting.

Discussion began with Tara Banninger, of Heidelberg Township, addressing the board.

“I come today to talk to the board about what’s been going on with the Department of Education and the threat of pulling federal funding is very real,” she said. “At this point, they’re going to dissolve the Department of Education and probably take funding from schools, so I wanted to see what our budget looks like when that’s done.

“I already spoke with (Superintendent) Dr. Jennifer Holman a little bit before the meeting and my additional questions to that are — we may have something for the first year or in the interim now for the first year but what does that look like years down the road, how much millage would we have to add to our taxes to make up differences, what programs do we have to sacrifice or pull from to keep our children who are in Special Ed, special needs and the nutrition for the underprivileged children in our district for lunch and all the other stuff?”

Banninger said she wanted to see where the board was with this.

“I also think it’s important the community get notice of what that looks like because we can stop it if we pick up the phone, if they realize it’s going to hurt them and hurt their children and hurt our school district in some way shape or form,” she said. “I’m sure a lot of parents will get on the phone with their elected official and say they have got to stop this.

“So, I just wanted to address the board about that issue, thank you.”

Holman addressed the issue.

“I explained earlier the board had asked for a presentation last month and we are a district that doesn’t receive a great deal of federal funding but any federal funding obviously is important to us,” Holman stated. “She had asked about millage increases and I said we are a district that increases millage.

“It’s a result of not having a lot of industry and so if they see a millage increase, it might not be anything to show the federal funding that’s necessary.”

She said even if something should happen, those are areas this board would make a decision not to fund.

“For example, I mentioned Special Education is one of the areas this board has been very good and very diligent about funding for the students whom we serve in special education,” Holman said. “Our students would be served regardless of the federal funding we receive in those areas and we have been very responsible as a board in serving special education and having backup funds and sources for funds, even if there should be and there have been blips in federal funding before, in terms of us not getting funds in the timely manner, and we have had back up funds and being able to do that to serve students in special needs, as well as the National School lunch program which is what she was referring to in terms of backup funds I mentioned earlier.

Business Administrator Christie Steigerwalt explained the Federal Funding Summary.

“You asked for more information concerning our federal funding,” Steigerwalt said. “As you know the Pennsylvania Department of Education receives multiple federal funding streams to support school districts.

“These funds are distributed through formula grants and other grants and special programs.

“Federal funding programs here at the district are Title I, II, IV, Individual with Disabilities Education Act and the child nutrition groups,” she explained. “What does this mean for us as a district?

“Our federal funds represent approximately 1 percent of our total general fund revenue. So locked in federal funds for revenues are your Titles I, II and IV.

“IDEA is considered a local source because it’s funneled through the Intermediate Unit.

“That part, the $400,000 is approximately 1 percent of our 6,000 account also and then child nutrition group that is with our food service, our Fund 551 so that does not affect our general fund.

“Eventually if it will go away, yes, it would affect our general fund but that money goes directly into our food service fund for those programs.”

So, what does Title I encompass, what do we spend that $237,000 on?” Steigerwalt asked.

“Right now, it supports the partial salaries of three professionals and an instructional assistant down at Northwestern Elementary and also helps with purchasing some items for Northwestern Elementary and part of the funds go to homelessness, if we have any homeless individuals and to help our nonpublics with anything they may need,” she explained. “Title II and IV we’ve combined since 2018-19.

“We combine those two funds because they’re so small, the $40,000 and the $20,000, and that supports a partial salary of one of our professionals.

“IDEA also supports the salaries of various Special Ed teachers — 12 teachers and two instructional assistants.

“It is not their whole salaries of course it’s just partials.

“We take those 12 professionals and then two IA’s and we prorate that for whatever we may get.

“We have $402,000 coming in this year, so we’ll prorate that and take partial salaries to cover with that $402,000 and then the 619 account which is always smaller it’s usually $1,000.

“This year it’s only $708 and that always goes to help a kindergarten student and typically we use those funds to offset an IA who is specifically assigned to a kindergarten student.

“The child nutrition of course is like I said in fund 551 and that is our school lunch program and the breakfast program.

“So, Title I is a program that’s aimed to ensure that all children have a fair and significant opportunity to obtain a highly quality education and reach at minimum proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments and it’s based on our free and reduced lunch recipient numbers and the funds are also used to help identify as being academically at risk and then we also service nonpublic schools with this money.”

Director of Curriculum and Instruction LeAnn Stitzel commented.

“We actually use our title funding. It goes as, Mrs. Steigerwalt mentioned, it goes to our school with our highest free and reduced lunches rate, so that would be Northwestern Elementary,” she explained. “All of our titled funding is targeted for Northwestern Elementary.

“We use that at our district to fund an instructional assistant, a partial salary of an instructional assistant.

“I believe it’s two instructors, two reading specialists, partial salaries again it doesn’t fund complete salaries of anyone actually.

“Two partial salaries of reading specialists and actually a partial salary of a fifth-grade instructor as well.”

She said in addition to that, Northwestern Elementary gets a number of funds dedicated toward things like family engagement.

“There are some regulations they have to meet based on the federal regulations of Title I.

“Some of those things being like family nights, so family engagement times they have to meet some other qualifications as well things go toward their MTSS programs so we do have money set aside for the building, as well, that affects all students within that building.”

“In addition to that, you know Mrs. Steigerwald said some money must be set aside for the homeless populations within our district.

“That has to be based on the regulations and also in addition to that money it must be given to any nonpublic school that we would have students coming from or going to Northwestern Elementary but instead they choose a nonpublic school, so we utilize some of that funds for the Diocese of Allentown.

“We must give it to them. We don’t have a choice.”

Board member Willard Dellicker offered his thoughts on the issue.

“I would like to thank you for coming here tonight and searching out the truth about what we hear on television and in the media about what’s going on with the departments in the federal government specifically tonight and I hope that you will leave here tonight feeling better than you did about this situation when you came in tonight,” he said to Banninger. “Let me just give you an opinion.

“I am fine having worked with this or seeing what this Department of Education has done for our school district over the last 30 some years and I very happy to see discussions about eliminating it, the Department of Education.

“I’ll tell you why. I think bureaucracy that has been built up in that department and the separation from those people to our school districts whether it be a municipal school district in Philadelphia or Allentown or the rural districts, like we have here. “I think they just don’t have a clue about what’s going on in our districts and how they can help,” Dellicker stated. “When they come out with help, it’s usually a broad-brush policy that really doesn’t efficiently affect any of our districts whether it be rural, suburban or city schools.

“I think it would be much better as the discussion that we’re hearing is that all of these programs within the dollars be administered to the states and then the states administer to the school districts.”

Dellicker said he would rather see it come right down directly to our administrator because they would do a much better job of administrating any money that they get from the federal or state government to the benefit of our schools.

“One of the benefits I see in eliminating this department is what we have called for years unfunded mandates and we have pages and pages of mandates that come from bureaucrats who sit in offices who demand that we keep records, make reports, hire people to keep records, and make reports and send information to them and never see any benefit coming from that so these unfunded mandates.

“I think would relieve billions of dollars to the school districts in not having to do these routine and really ineffective reporting that we have to do so I’m looking at this as a good thing,” Dellicker said. “I don’t think these programs that we’ve been talking about up to this point are going to go away, there’s a need for them and the need will be meet from the state perhaps taking some federal money from the federal government and I believe that would be made available to maybe another department, but I look at this as a good thing.

“I think that is a very positive investigation about how it’s being run today and I look to the future that it’s going to get better and more efficient and benefit our kids much better than what we’re doing right now.”

Banninger again addressed the board.

“I think there’s definitely room for improvement in the Department of Education,” Banninger said. “I don’t think anybody has ever said that there isn’t.

“I just think that one of the things that you had already said is that the money was already appropriated, well guess what, the money was already appropriated for many programs and you said that they just stopped sending the money for.

“Money was already appropriated for several things that they just decided we’re not going to give you the money we appropriated because they’re making a run around Congress and doing it.

“They’re basically violating Article One of the Constitution,” she stated before thanking the board for the slideshow on the federal funding.

“It did make me feel better about where we stand as a district. It doesn’t make me feel better about what’s happening because I don’t care just about me.

“I care about all other districts that are not as fortunate as Northwestern Lehigh and to recognize we live in a really great place.

“I’ve lived here now for 15 years and I have one child go through our school district.

“I will say that you mentioned it takes an act of Congress to get rid of the Department of Education and, if I had faith in that right now, I wouldn’t have been at this meeting because I know that wouldn’t go away and that the funding wouldn’t go away but right now what’s happening is not within the Constitutional limit.”