Harrisburg School Board members are preparing for what could be deep cuts in state aid to the district.
Tuesday afternoon, the State Board of Education posted on the Internet a draft detailing several cuts. Superintendent Dennis Smith quickly went over the cuts to see what they mean for the district. HE briefed the board at the regular meeting Tuesday night.
Among the cuts are a 50 percent reduction in the reading and improvement grant; 32.4 percent cuts in aid to the $340,000 pre-kindergarten program; a 70 percent cut to the $50,000 Americans With Disabilities Act block grant; and a 50 percent cut in the agriculture education grant. The cuts will amount to a $260,000 to $275,000 reduction, Smith said.
Smith suggested some of the rationale behind the cuts could amount to priming the pump for a tax increase next year, or later this year.
The board started laying the groundwork last month for cuts in the pre-k program. Last night, board member agreed to keep three teachers in the pre-k program, but move Megan Porter to third grade and Jamie Tavender-Banks to the position of Even Start program coordinator.
Work should begin soon on the press box at Taylor Field, which was destroyed by a wind storm in May. The estimated cost of the project is $50,000.
Architect Ed Kerkhover plans to distribute blueprints and bid specifications to contractors at a pre-bid meeting 1 p.m. Monday. Bids will be opened 2 p.m. next Friday. The board authorized the Building Committee to approve the lowest bid without the board convening a special meeting. The committee's action will be ratified in August at the regular meeting.
Board members hope to have the press box ready Aug. 31, shortly before the start of varsity football season.
Smith, Michele Way and Kerkhover met with city officials Monday about the smell emanating from parts of the Central Office. An environmental company hired by the district determined the smell, first detected last fall, is fecal matter, most likely from a city sewer.
"We agreed to do five or six core samples outside to see if we can catch the direction of the flow," Smith said.
Presumably, if the school can establish the sewer flow comes from the city's sewer lines, then the city will take care of the problem, Smith said. Board members also hope to eliminate the possibility of the sewer smell coming from an old septic tank located at the former site of the gasoline station at the corner of Church and Vine streets.
