At a special Board Meeting on Tuesday evening, June 30, the School District of Lancaster (SDoL) Board settled on a final budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. With a 7-2 vote, the Board adopted the budget as proposed several months ago by district chief financial officer Matt Przywara. Under the budget plan, local property taxes will increase by 3.52%—a modest hike in light of previous budgets and considering the possible 5.8% increase permitted by the State.

The vote comes at a time when a partisan standoff in Harrisburg is holding $6.2 million dollars worth of SDoL funding in limbo. Przywara indicated that the State budget may not be finalized until as late as August.

A “worst case scenario” was detailed for the Board, in which over $6 million could be clipped from the proposed budget. Some of the cuts would include the elimination of all new unfilled and other administrative support positions ($1.6 million), reducing department and building budgets ($1 million), and the tapering of class-size reduction efforts ($2.2 million). Superintendent Pedro Rivera explained that these potential cuts, although painful, have been carefully selected to present minimal impact on the quality of students’ educational experience.

After a failing motion to raise the tax increase to 4.41%, the Board voted to approve the proposed budget as well as the previously discussed tax hike of 3.52% ($79 for a $100,000 property). After the final vote, Board President Patrick Snyder cheerfully declared, “We have a budget.”

Following the budget vote, the Board was given a formal presentation by representatives of Camelot Schools LLC, which the administration has recommend to take over management of Buehrle Alternative School. Camelot runs three similar schools for troubled students within the City of Philadelphia, as well over a dozen other programs throughout the country. The presentation offered impressive figures regarding these schools’ post-secondary placement rates and their graduation rates-between 96% and 100%.

Board Member Jacqueline McCain, who had visited one of Camelot’s operations and called it “wonderful,” expressed some concern about the firm’s policies on physical constraint of students. Camelot representatives said they would provide the Board with thorough documentation to outline the policies, and asserted that these incidents are handled with great care. Staff members are provided with extensive training on how to respond to situations in which a student threatens to physically harm himself or others; and, immediately after the incident, the school initiates a thorough follow-up process that includes a student nurse visit and a special meeting with parents.

Following the presentation, the Board voted unanimously to approve the hiring of Camelot Schools. Next, the administration will negotiate a contract with Camelot, which the Board must also approve.