Fox Chapel Area School Board holding special meeting to vote on tentative budget

Tawnya Panizzi | Monday, June 22, 2020 10:07 a.m.

Louis B. Ruediger | Tribune-Review

Fox Chapel Area School Board will hold a special meeting on June 29 to vote on a tentative budget for the 2020-21 school year.

Fox Chapel Area School Board will have a special meeting to vote on the district’s tentative $102 million budget which calls for a 1.5% property tax increase.

The remote session will be at 6 p.m. June 29, using Zoom.

Anyone who wants to comment during the meeting can access it at bit.ly/FCASBJune29Mtg and use the password 881889.

Residents can also join by phone at 1-888-475-4499 or 1-877-853-5257, using meeting ID 892 2726 7795# and participant ID 881889#.

Other action at the meeting could include a vote on the district’s Homestead Exclusion, several employment agreements and a delinquent tax collector.

As proposed, the 2020-21 budget would see a slight tax rate increase to 19.8 mills.

The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 would pay $3,960 in school taxes, up from $3,914.

The plan includes a number of reassignments and realignments expected to save money, district coordinator of communications Bonnie Berzonski said.

It includes the elimination of two municipal police officers who work as school resource officers at the high school and Dorseyville Middle School.

Instead, the jobs would be covered by officers who are part of the district’s police force.

The district’s facilitator of the Creativity and Literacy Program, Alison Francis, would be moved back to the classroom under the proposed plan in a move to save money. The CLP position would be paid by a supplemental contract.

The district’s Spanish Immersion pilot program could be put on hold for new students.

Spending highlights of the budget include a 6.2% increase in tuition costs for students to attend cyber schools, charter schools and special education facilities, as well as A.W. Beattie Career Center.

The Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) employer contribution rate is set at 34.51% for 2020-2021, which is a 1.1% decrease in costs from 2019-2020.

The district plans to draw $1.8 million from the fund balance for costs associated with paving projects, security improvements and Kerr construction. Another $1.5 million is planned to be drawn down in 2020-2021 for projects relating to the five-year capital improvement plan and the high school paving project.