U-CF board approves preliminary budget

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The Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board started the process
of establishing the budget for school year 2010-2011 during its Feb 16 meeting.
Board members passed a preliminary budget of more than $70 million that could
bring about a tax increase more than the state allows without a referendum.

It is a preliminary budget, however, and is expected to
change before final budget approval in the spring.

“The major purpose of the preliminary budget is to determine
whether we need to initiate a referendum process to exceed the Act 1 Index,”
said board member Keith Knauss, chairman of the finance committee. “We have
decided that a referendum is not needed.”

Knauss added that the preliminary budget would undergo
modification before it becomes the proposed budget in May and the final budget
in June.

“The public will be able to comment at each step along the
way. As usual, there will be a formal public hearing or hearings in May to
gather input.”

Knauss also acknowledged that it would be difficult for
residents to accept any tax increase under current economic conditions, and
said the committee has asked the school administration to come up with a list
of expenditures to be cut so the tax increase is below the 2.9 percent Act 1
Index.

“We’re looking for shared sacrifice, sacrifice on the part
of the tax payers, sacrifice on the part of parents with children in school and
sacrifice on the part of employees,” Knauss said.

The district is already planning several public round table
discussions in addition to the standard public hearings on the budget,
according to Superintendant Sharon Parker. One or two, she hopes, will take
place before the end of March.

“Going under the 2.9 cap,” Parker said, “will mean an
adjustment of program, services, possibly quality performance and will have an
impact on pupils and on personnel.”

She said other districts in the state and in Chester County
are facing the same constraints.

As previously reported, the preliminary budget calls for a
possible tax hike from 23.58 mills to 24.97 mills in Chester County and an
increase from 20.68 mills to 21.44 mills in Chadds Ford Township, the only
district township in Delaware County.

A mill is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property
value.

The preliminary budget passed 8-0.

Other business

Board member Curt Baker resigned his position on the board
and left the meeting before any votes were taken. Baker, who was on the board
for six years, said he could no longer be effective or enjoy being on the
board.

He cited the personnel make up of the board for his reasons
and specifically said he was bothered by the fact that Board President Timotha
Trigg had three times voted against extending Parker’s contract.

He said he almost resigned when the board re-seated and she
was selected as president because her selection showed the intention of the
board.

Baker also said he was bothered by a move to have him
removed from the board when he took a job in Virginia.

“No board has the authority to remove another board member
save for abandonment. I can give you 100 percent assurance I did not and would
not ever abandon this seat. It’s too important.”

Trigg took exception to the comment about her, saying her
votes against the contract extension had nothing to do with Parker. Rather, she
said, she was voting against the board who wanted to extend the contract too
early.

“When I voted no,” Trigg said, “I said I support the
superintendant. It was not about the superintendant, it was about what I
believed was a completely inappropriate action by the previous school board.
The vote to extend a contract one year into a four-year contract, I don’t
believe [is] a proper kind of vote for a school board to take. I was not voting
against the superintendant. I was voting against the decision of the School
Board.”

Trigg stressed again that she supports Parker.

The board has 30 days to appoint a replacement. That
replacement will face election in the November 2011.

Trigg said residents who are interested have until March 2
to apply. The will make a decision during its March 15 meeting.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. The Shadow

    Curt Baker should have resign along ago.
    I hope the other members of Board will do what was promised before they took office. Now it’s time for Sharon Parker to go.

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