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04.20.12
Northgate gets literacy grant

The Northgate School District will receive more than $700,000 in the coming school year as part of a grant program that could send similar amounts into the schools for the next five years.

Superintendent Dr. Reggie Bonfield reported Monday that Northgate was among only 11 percent of the original grant applicants to receive full funding in the Keystones to Opportunity program through the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Some $38 million was awarded to the PDE as part of the U.S. Department of Education's Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program.

03.12.12
Increase increases

The amount by which Avonworth officials may be able to increase property taxes has changed again, this time upward.

Under state law, Avonworth is permitted to raise taxes by only .26 mills without voter approval. The District had applied for exceptions to this rate based on special education and pension costs.

02.11.12
Tax increase must decrease

The Avonworth School District will have to make do with a lower than planned property tax increase or try to get more from voters after the Pennsylvania Department of Education made adjustments to the district’s request for Act 1 exceptions.

01.14.12
Avonworth wants bigger tax hike

The Avonworth School Board will vote next Monday on whether to apply for exceptions that will allow the board to to triple next year’s allowable millage increase.

Under state law, Avonworth is permitted to increase the property tax millage rate for 2012-13 by only .26 mills. Anything over that has to be approved by voters on a ballot referendum unless the district is granted exceptions to the referendum rule by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

10.22.11
Holding the line

The Northgate School Board has agreed not to exceed the state inflationary index for a property tax millage increase next year, but that most certainly does not mean the district will avoid another tax hike.

Each year, the state determines how much a particular school district can increase property taxes without triggering a plethora of procedural hoops, including expedited budget timelines, requests for exceptions to avoid ballot referendums, and potentially court action and the referendum itself.

09.23.11
Expedited budget

Next year's early primary election for the presidential nominations will have an impact on the school district budgeting process, triggering early deadlines for certifying whether 2012-13 millage increases will fall within the state index.

Under state law, school districts must hold a primary election referendum in order to increase property taxes more than the index, unless the district is granted exceptions by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

09.23.11
Northgate pleased with scores

Northgate students met all goals and achieved the dreaded “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) in every category on the 2011 state tests, albeit with a bit of fudging in areas.

Students in grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 at the elementary level, and grades 7, 8 and 9 at the middle/senior high level, are testing annually by the state to determine if students are achieving adequate process in reading and math. Each year, the percentage of children that must score at a “proficient” or higher level is increased by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and that proficiency is measured by the PSSA tests.

09.16.11
Board hears primary center update

Progress continues on the construction of a primary center near Avonworth Elementary. The district’s school board voted Monday to begin negotiations for pre-construction services, approved several documents required by the state, and heard an update from the project architect/engineer.

09.09.11
Common Core

New academic standards were discussed at the Avonworth School Board’s work session on Sept. 6. Dr. Shannon Varley, director of curriculum and instruction for the district, spoke to the board about the Common Core Standards, which have been adopted by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

06.17.11
Northgate to raise taxes

The Northgate School Board can balance the coming year's budget, but it will not be able to raise taxes enough next year to fund the 2012-13 budget.

That is the rationale expressed by a majority of board members for why they plan to vote in favor of a 2011-12 property tax millage increase next week.

Finance committee chairman Daniel O'Keefe said at the board's work session on June 13 that of the $1.6 million cut from Northgate's budget for the coming year, about $1 million is a one-time savings due to retirements and staff furloughs.

06.10.11
Primary center hearing will be held this summer

Before the end of the summer, the Avonworth School Board will be looking for comments from the public on the planned primary center, part of a lengthy road to state approval and construction of the new school.

Greer Hayden of HHSDR, the architectural/engineering firm retained by the district, told administrators and school board members at their work session on Monday that "Plancon" documents A through C have been submitted to and approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

04.15.11
Avonworth board commits to no tax increase in 2011-12

Although no binding vote will be taken until June, members of the Avonworth School Board said Monday that they believe that they can balance the coming year’s budget without increasing property taxes.

Avonworth has received permission from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to increase millage rates by .89 mills, according to director of fiscal management Brad Waters. The tax hike would have produced about $600,000 in revenue, he said.

03.25.11
Letters to the Editor 3-25-11

Editor:

When families are deciding where they want to live, there are certain things they are looking for: a safe and secure neighborhood, the highest quality education for their children, and fair and reasonable taxes that allow for a high quality of life and a reason to invest in their community. Our local government and our school district must collaborate to make our community the best it can be. Together we can better solve the challenges we face.

03.18.11
Avonworth cuts 15 aides

The Avonworth School District will eliminate 15 aide positions in the next school year, the first step in budget cuts that could encompass an end to full-day kindergarten, salary freezes, and a request for voluntary concessions from union employees.

02.18.11
Avonworth hopes state will allow .51 mill property tax increase

The Avonworth School Board will seek permission from the state to increase property taxes next year above the Act 1 limit.

The board voted at Monday’s regular meeting to rescind its previous approval of a resolution that would have limited a tax increase in the district to the Act 1 limit of .28 mills

02.18.11
Northgate to seek 2.5 mill exception

While the Northgate School Board seeks permission to increase property taxes 2.5 mills in the coming year, a challenge to cut spending was endorsed more heartily in theory than in practice at the board’s work session on Monday.

02.11.11
Budget decisions

The Avonworth School Board will vote next Monday on whether to rescind a resolution that limits the amount the district can raise property taxes next year.

04.30.10
Northgate goes for max tax hike

By ROBERTA SLANINA O’BRIEN

With officials still coming up empty-handed when it comes to reducing costs, the Northgate School Board has approved a preliminary 2010-11 budget that will increase property taxes by the full 3.1 mills allowed by the state.

Initially limited to a tax increase totalling a fraction of that amount, the district successfully applied for exceptions from the Pennsylvania Department of Education that gave the school board the power to raise the millage rate beyond the annual index amount without having to obtain voter approval of a ballot referendum.

04.16.10
Exceptions approved

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has approved exceptions that will allow both local school districts to increase property taxes this year without getting voter approval.

Under Act 1, districts generally are allowed to increase property tax millage rates up to a certain index without going to a ballot referendum. That rule would have limited Northgate to a .98 mill tax hike for 2010-11, and Avonworth to .55 mills.

02.19.10
Preliminary budget adopted

The Northgate School Board voted unanimously Monday evening to approve a preliminary 2010-11 budget that reflects a property tax millage increase of 3.1 mills.

The early adoption is required in order for the district to apply to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) for exceptions that would allow Northgate to increase its property tax rate by more than the .98 mills allowed under the Act 1 index. Officials have cited increased special education and pension costs, as well as decreasing revenue from local taxes, as the basis for seeking the exceptions.

02.12.10
Northgate looks for budget cuts

Hoping that every little bit will help, the Northgate School Board came up with a handful of ideas at its Monday work session to cut costs and reduce a potentially sizeable millage increase in the coming fiscal year.

02.05.10
Avonworth projects tax hike

Avonworth administrators believe they will need to increase property taxes by .85 mills in the next fiscal year, and the district's school board will vote Monday on whether to approve a preliminary budget based on the higher millage rate.

The tax increase includes not only the .55 mills allowed under the state index, but an additional .3 mills officials hope they can levy without getting voter approval on a primary election referendum.

01.22.10
Architect hired for Avonworth elementary

An architect has been hired to begin the process of creating an additional Avonworth Elementary School Building.

The district's school board voted Monday to have HHSDR Architects and Engineers head the project that could put a new building in place in time for students to start the 2013-14 school year.

Faced with overcrowding that has forced the fifth grade into modular classrooms outside the elementary school on Roosevelt Road, the district now anticipates constructing a new building that will house grades K-2, while the current school continues to house students in grades 3-5.

01.22.10
Boards take first steps toward tax increases

Both the Avonworth and Northgate schools boards have taken the first steps on a road that could lead to sizeable property tax increases later this year.

Both boards voted Monday to advertise budgets for the 2010-11 fiscal year, which is required if the districts want to preserve their ability to increase the millage rate more than the state index allows.

In the Avonworth School District, that means the millage rate could increase more than 2.9 percent over the 2009-10 rate, and in Northgate a hike of more than 4 percent could be on the horizon.