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Elizabethtown Area School District Athletic Director William Templin has been doing his job as always, scheduling games and compiling the district’s athletic budget for the 2022-23 school year.
In the background is the possibility that all that work will be wasted.
The Elizabethtown school board in January asked the district administration to come up with a list of items that could yield $1 million in budget cuts. The ultimate hope is avoiding a 3% property tax increase.
The administration presented the list at a six-hour work session of the board held March 8. It included the elimination of extracurricular activities, including sports, music and clubs. That would save $1.2 million.
The potential cuts will be voted upon at what promises to be an emotional board meeting Tuesday. School board President Terry Seiders opposes cutting sports and other extracurriculars, but admitted Friday he has no idea what will happen.
“There was a time when I could answer that question,’’ Seiders said. “With the dynamic on the board right now, I can’t.’’
Public sentiment, as expressed in comments at board meetings, on social media and in a petition created by an Elizabethtown High School student, seems strongly opposed to eliminating extracurriculars.
“I think everyone understands that athletics and extracurriculars are a part of the educational process, and a valuable part,’’ Templin said Thursday.
“What I’m hearing is in support of continuing (with sports). I guess there are some who disagree, but I haven’t heard from them.’’
Jordan Higgins, the school’s baseball coach, says he has not heard his players talking much about the controversy.
“I feel like it’s a bigger story outside our district than inside,’’ Higgins said Thursday. “Our district does a pretty good job of keeping the kids, and what’s best for them, at the center. I think they have to find a way to make room for (sports).’’
Separate from budgeting
Tuesday’s vote is separate from the district’s formal budget process. That process, at Elizabethtown and most public schools, occupies administrations and school boards throughout the year.
Elizabethtown’s budget is normally approved tentatively in May and formally in June.
At the board’s Jan. 25 meeting, Dan Forry, the district’s director of finance and operations, presented a preliminary budget for 2022-23 that includes the 3% tax increase. It shows revenues of $71.15 million and $71.64 million in expenses.
That deficit, about $490,000, has been trimmed to about $52,000 over the past three months.
“We’re very pleased that the deficit is only $52,000,’’ Troy Portser, the district’s director of school and community information, said Thursday, adding that the request for cuts is completely separate from the regular budget process.
Portser said, and Seiders confirmed, that about 90% of the district’s expenses are state-mandated, collectively bargained with staff or otherwise fixed. Also, specific government funding allocations and other details could tweak all of the above figures between now and June.
When the board asked the administration for potential cuts, Portser said, the only off-limits item was an ROTC program that has not yet been implemented.
“They said, ‘If you had to give us an additional million, what would that look like?’ ’’ Portser said.
Other than extracurriculars, potential cuts included eliminating all bus transportation except for special education students ($1.6 million), staffing reductions ($597,745); ending a cyberschool program ($275,000) and smaller reductions from eliminating field trips, a school resource officer and a trauma/crisis counselor position; and providing less supplies and technology to students.
Portser emphasized that the administration is not recommending any cuts.
“We have simply responded to their request,’’ he said.
‘Keep E-town great’
At the Jan. 25 board meeting, 16 district residents, half of them Elizabethtown students, addressed the board in opposition to the cuts.
Adrian Grosh, a junior at Elizabethtown Area High School, told the board he had created an online petition opposing the cuts. The petition, “Save Sports and Arts Programs @ EASD,’’ can be found online at change.org, and had 1,489 signatures as of this morning.
One citizen who addressed the board Jan. 25, William Yoder, drew applause when he said, “Let’s keep E-town great. Please, raise my taxes.’’
“It appears that all they did was look at the budget from a 100,000-foot-level and make sweeping, huge cuts,’’ said another speaker, Theia Hofstetter, “Mostly picking things that are unrealistic and have upset parents, students and the community.’’
Mike Sernoffsky, who has taught and coached wrestling at Elizabethtown Area High School since 1983, addressed the board at last week’s meeting and pointed out that the cost of extracurriculars have already been passed to parents in the form of activities fees, and the providing of uniforms, warmups and equipment in a manner comparable to club sport programs.
“I know that students need a sense of belonging and acceptance,’’ Sernoffsky said. “If we don’t provide it, kids will find other places to find that sense of belonging, and unfortunately, those places may not be a positive influence.
“There’s a place for everyone in these programs. … My experience is that we have been very frugal at the expense of our children.’’
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