LANSDALE – The school board met at their monthly work session meeting to discuss advertising policies and the progress of budget planning.

The advertising discussion focused on the areas in which ads should be allowed; currently, ads are not allowed in classrooms, offices, libraries, and on entrance signs to school property. They are allowed in locations such as hallways, locker rooms, auditoriums, cafeterias, and more. A few of the school board members wanted to place more restrictions on where ads can be placed, like keeping them out of hallways and auditoriums. Board member Carolyn Murphy commented on the need for space in elementary schools to hang student work and was concerned with the room ads would take up on the walls. The overall consensus was to support tasteful advertisements that encourage things like reading and healthy eating, but to bring the issue back for discussion if many more businesses and organizations seek an ad in the North Penn district.

The second half of the meeting was dominated by a presentation about prospective budget plans and projections for the future. While the district is in a good financial position due to hard work by the staff over recent years, certain situations outside the district’s control demand a great amount of money. The rough speculation is that the district will have about $5.7 million in new money this year through things such as attrition, economic rebound, and tax yields; however, due to PSERS, healthcare, debt services and the possible implementation of a charter school, the district also expects expenditure increases of about $10.5 million. Assuming that the charter schools will be operational next school year, they would cost $4.2 million the opening year and about $1.1 million every consecutive year. However, in this model, the 8% fund balance will be exhausted in four years, leading to a raise in taxes in order to close the funding gap. The charter schools will allow minimal opportunity to economize and would be an ongoing, annual expense.

Some long term strategies for improving the budget include aggressive implementation of remaining cost savings, promotion of labor productivity equipment and techniques, and innovation. The adoptions of the preliminary budget will be on February 11^th and the adoption of the final budget will be on June 19^th.

The next school board meeting will be on January 16^th at 7:30 at the ESC.