Education Forum Addresses 'What's At Stake?'

East Penn Invested Citizens held an education forum, asking questions about the future of public education, unfunded mandates and budgets on Wednesday night.

East Penn Invested Citizens Chairperson Nicole Basset didn’t pull any punches in kicking off Wednesday night’s EPIC forum on the future of public education. “Little by little, we are destroying the soul of public education,” said Bassett, a mother of three. The EPIC program, titled “Education Forum: What’s At Stake?” touched on recurring themes in most conversations about the future of public education, including unfunded special education mandates and school district budgets that have been stretched to the limits. Superintendents Thomas Seidenberger, of East Penn School District, Richard Snisack, of Parkland School District, and Russ Mayo, of Allentown School District, along with Susan Gobreski, Executive Director of Education Voters PA, …

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Allentown Hockey Arena Could Impact East Penn Budget

Neighborhood Improvement Zone will use all non-property taxes collected in the zone to finance construction of the Allentown hockey arena.

The new Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) will likely impact East Penn School District’s 2012-2013 budget by pulling tax dollars away from the district to pay for the downtown hockey stadium, according to Charles Ballard, president of the East Penn School Board. Calling it a “probable hit on our budget,” Ballard told those in attendance at the board’s Jan. 23 meeting to “stay tuned” while the board looks into just what the NIZ will mean to East Penn. Ballard and the East Penn administration first learned that the district will lose earned income tax to the arena construction project from a recent report in The Morning Call. According to the report, the earned income tax generated in NIZ will be set aside in an arena …

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Board Members Butt Heads on Preliminary East Penn Budget

Board veteran Alan Earnshaw "schools" new board member Lynn Donches on requests made of Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger.

The preliminary 2012-2013 East Penn budget passed by the East Penn Board of School Directors at Monday night’s board meeting is, by most accounts, a mere formality. The early-stage budget is required to qualify East Penn for special exceptions that would allow the district to exceed its state-imposed 1.7 percent tax increase cap. However, even though Monday night’s vote was, as Board President Charles Ballard described it, “a pro forma exercise,” it did prompt a bit of verbal sparring between veteran board member Alan Earnshaw and board newbie Lynn Donches. Donches asked Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger to provide the board with a zero percent budget, “so the board could see what it would mean to the kids and the community…

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Preliminary 2012-2013 East Penn Budget Raises Taxes

East Penn Board of School Directors approves preliminary 2012-2013 budget by 6-3 vote.

The East Penn Board of School Directors approved the district’s preliminary 2012-2013 budget at Monday night’s school board meeting by a 6-3 vote, completing the first step in a six-month trek to a final budget in June. The budget approved last night calls for a 3.2 percent real estate tax increase and is basically a formality at this point. The approval of a preliminary budget this early in the year is required to qualify East Penn for special exceptions that would allow it to exceed its state-imposed 1.7 percent tax increase cap. The way the state has the budget process set up requires districts like East Penn to ask to go above the cap before the districts really know if they need to exceed the cap and by how much. Superintendent of …

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Macungie Council OKs Budget With Small Tax Hike

Faced with a drop in revenue, Macungie makes staff cuts and raises taxes by less than a mill.

Macungie Borough Council approved a $3.2 million budget Tuesday night that raises real estate taxes by less than a mill.  By a vote of 4-1, council passed a .68-mill tax hike bringing the millage rate to 7.63 mills. That increase means that a homeowner with property assessed at the borough average of $67,000 will pay $511 in 2012, or $45 more than this year.   Voting for the budget were Jean Nagle, Chris Becker, Robert Bogert and Joseph Sikorski. Outgoing Council President Guy Ramsey voted against it and David Boyko and Dorothy Kociuba were absent.  Faced with a serious decrease in revenues like real estate transfer taxes, the borough was originally looking at a $320,000 deficit and a tax hike of 3.5 mills, Ramsey said. That was whittled …

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Five Things to Know Today

Five Things to Know Today: December 6

Ready for some serious Holiday fun this weekend? Karen Holt blogs every day this week about Saturday's Macungie Holiday!

1. Weather: Some rain today. The National Weather Service forecast for our area says there's an 80 percent chance of some showers and a high near 60 degrees. 2. In Case You Missed It: The Closet of Hope is a beacon to some of our community members. 3. Serious Holiday Fun: The Macungie Institute's Karen Holt blogs some more about the upcoming Macungie Holiday on Saturday. 4. Coming Up: Macungie Council is still having a hard time with the 2012 budget. 5. Today in History: On this day in 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, officially ending the institution of slavery, was ratified. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within …

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Macungie Budget Struggle Could Mean Lay-Offs, Cuts in Services

Council will arrive at a proposed budget on Dec. 1. Members agree, "It will be ugly."

Tension was palpable as Macungie Borough Council began its Nov. 21 meeting. The issue was the borough’s 2012 budget and the nearly $300,000 needed to balance it. Some believe the only way to balance it is by raising taxes. However, several passionate residents stepped to the podium to make their disinterest in that method. Paul Jarrett begged council to curtail spending. He pointed his remarks at the salaries of borough workers which some say are excessive. Though Borough Manager Chris Boehm stands to make $58,802 in 2012, she says she is the lowest paid borough manager in Lehigh and Northampton counties. Other administrative salaries for borough office workers in will range from 38,480 to $41,912. Salaries for public works employees in …

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another voice

1:55 pm on Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I can't help but laugh when people talk about a "rip off" etc. with the truckers. Can I remind everyone that PaDOT erected the signs according to their specifications. The borough had nothing to do with it. It's also funny when people defend the truckers because they couldn't see TWO signs approx. 4 feet by 4 feet in size with the first being a warning 600 feet before the restricted area. Tell me…   more ›

East Penn Looks Ahead to 2012-2013 Budget

East Penn Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger prepares school board for 2012-2013 budget process and foreshadows where potential challenges may lie.

East Penn Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger went into a bit of foreshadowing related to what the 2012-2013 budget process will be like at Monday night's East Penn Board of School Director's meeting. Seidenberger highlighted the many things that will make it more difficult to balance the next budget, including unknowns like Charter School tuition reimbursements, according to The Morning Call. “We don’t know what the basic special education subsidy will be, if there is any at all,” Seidenberger said. “Last year, there were basically no salary increases, all employees took wage freeze. There will be salary increases. “It promises to be an interesting budget season,” he said. One of the first decisions that the board will need …

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Fixing Elementary Class Sizes Could Cost $1.1 Million

Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger asks board to review report on elementary school enrollment before next board meeting.

East Penn School District could be facing some tough decisions in the coming months regarding class sizes. It can choose to have large elementary school class sizes -- in some cases more than 25 kids per classroom -- or it can choose to spend as much as $1.1 million on new teachers. Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger presented this scenario to the East Penn School Board Monday night and asked the board to review the numbers and be ready to talk about them at their next meeting. In preparing the board for that discussion, Seidenberger told the board that 25 students per class is the number he typically uses when he tries to work with class size at the elementary school level. “Most people will say that 25 is a number that …

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