COVID and budget considerations at UCF
Meetings in May will be significant for the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. Board directors will be voting on the proposed final budget for the next school year and deciding when to move into Phase 2 in re-opening the schools based on the number of COVID cases.
Business Manager Bob Cochran gave an overview of the 155-page budget book for the 2021-2022 budget and gave the timeline for voting on the plan.
“This book is to give you data to digest and raise questions as we go through the next several months in preparing,” he told the directors.
(The book may be found here.)
Compared to last year, the budget increased by 2.73 percent, or almost $2.5 million, which includes $150,000 in new salaries, he said.
In February, school board members approved a preliminary budget of $92.68 million. Since then, the figure has increased slightly to $93.1 million. If the current budget proposal would pass as is, Chester County property owners would see a millage rate of 29.96 mils; property owners in Chadds Ford would pay 15.46 mils. The difference is based on the differences in county market values and property assessments.
Cochran said the average assessed value in the Chester County municipalities is $264,767, while in Chadds Ford, the lone Delaware County municipality in the district, the average assessed value is $449.289. In real dollars, the average school tax would be $7,932 for the year in Chester County and $6,946 per year in Chadds Ford.
A budget hearing is planned for May 3, Cochran said, and a vote on the proposed final budget is planned for May 17. The final budget will be voted on during the June 21 meeting, and the final millage rates would also be voted on that night.
At the May 10 meeting, the directors will consider moving into Phase 2 of school re-opening. One aim is to end this school year on a schedule that students will have when they return to class after the summer.
According to John Nolen, the assistant superintendent, Phase 2 — if approved next month — would involve secondary schools moving to a regular in-person schedule of 8 a.m. to 2:43 p.m., five days per week, and elementary schools returning to a regular 9:10 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. on Wednesdays. Elementary students are already on a regular schedule Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Nolen said Phase 2 would increase instructional time for all students, improve the transition to after-school activities, and prepare students for the next school year.
During a discussion on further re-opening at the April 12 work session, Superintendent of Schools John Sanville reported that all of the faculty members who wanted a COVID vaccine — roughly 90 percent — have gotten the shots.
It was also reported during the discussion that there had been minimal in-school transmissions of the virus — only one that the district is aware of.
“My recommendation to the board,” Sanville said, “is that we continue our current instructional model. So far, we are not seeing increased transmission as a result of our students coming to school. Our kids are more likely to be exposed to the virus in other settings outside of school. We continue with significant mitigation strategies. We are following them faithfully.”
He added that students and families were doing the same.
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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