LANSDALE- February’s action meeting was held at the North Penn School District Educational Services Center on Thursday, February 15th. The board started the meeting with a North Penn News Update, featuring recent events taking place at the high school, such as Singing Valentines, The Reading Superbowl, and another incredibly successful Winter Ball.

North Penn High School English teacher and theater director, Andrea Rooney, purchased a virtual Singing Valentine for the members of the board to thank them for everything they do to support the high school. 

Principal Dr. Marie Kim and student council representatives from Montgomery Elementary School shared the progress of the service learning projects that they have completed as well as the ones they continue to work on throughout the school year. In January, students held a shoe drive for “Souls in Need of Soles”, and collected warm whether supplied to donate to homeless members of the North Penn community currently residing in the Trinity Lutheran Code Blue temporary shelter, students also created cards to add to backpacks of supplies provided by Cradles to Crayons. Students will continue to host food drives and assemble care kits for those in need throughout the year.

“Service projects are ways in which we can connect with our larger community and learn about how we can help others,” Montgomery Elementary student shared.

The committee reports for Personnel, Finance, Safe Schools, ECI, and Facilities and Operations, can be accessed virtually through the North Penn School District Website.

The MCIU Board met on January 24th, where they swore in multiple new members appointed by school districts across the county. The Board has also approved a partnership with Luzerne to offer a countywide Special Education Teacher Certification Program, as well as a Letter of Understanding with Drexel University to offer a tuition discount program for MCIU employees, families, and employees of MCIU member school districts. The board will meet again on February 28th, 2024.

The North Montco Technical Career Center has recently received one of only 55 grants across the state from the Department of Education, which will bring $85,000 to the organization to improve some of the equipment for their educational services. The annual car show will be held at the NMTCC on Saturday, April 13th. The next meeting will be held on February 21st, 2024.

One year ago, a Commonwealth Court ruling deemed Pennsylvania’s lack of public education funding unconstitutional, in response, just last week Governor Shapiro called for a 14% increase to that funding as a part of his overall budget proposal. This Governor also proposed $300 million to help address failing school facilities and setting the cost to districts sending students to cyber charter schools at $8,000 per student. 

A proposed fee structure for Lansdale Catholic Football rental at Crawford Stadium for games during the 2024 season was proposed by Superintendent, Dr. Todd Bauer. A flat rental fee of $1000 per event was proposed, which would cover all expenses. Additional expenses are expected to be paid for by the Lansdale Catholic Administration.

Mr. Ron Linke delivered the financial report. On February 6th, Governor Shapiro delivered his 2024-2025 budget address, proposing that next year there will be a 4.8% increase ($807,955) in North Penn’s Basic Education Funding. North Penn’s special education subsidy would increase by 4.0% ($294,042). North Penn’s Ready to Learn block grant would not increase, remaining at $577,539.

January’s treasurer’s report for the General Fund stated that cash receipts totaled $5.0 million and cash disbursements totaled $28.7 million. The total available funds at the end of January were $178.9 million, which is $14.4 million higher than this period last year.

All committee reports, Solicitors reports, Superintendent reports, and finance reports were approved. The board will meet again on Tuesday, March 12th, at the North Penn Educational Services Center for a finance meeting.

All upcoming meeting information is posted in BoardDocs.