Northern Lehigh School District heard from district business Manager Sherri Molitoris and the teachers’ union president last week about the 2024-2025 budget.

Molitoris said the first view deals with staffing and new programs.

“It will continue to be refined, actually hit with budget numbers and everything in April’s finance committee meeting, so look forward to seeing everybody at that finance committee meeting to actually see where our budget is landing in,” she said.

Tim Weaber, who serves as president of the Northern Lehigh Education Association, addressed proposed preliminary budget staffing proposals.

Weaber said that when Elementary and Secondary School Relief funding became available, new positions were created, which was a result of administration proposals and school board approval.

“I commend the administration for their creative approach to meet the needs at that time, and the school board’s willingness to support these proposals,” he said. “At that time, some school board members questioned what we would do when the ESSER’s funding ended. School board members were wise to ask these questions.”

Weaber said he wants to address positions, based on projected growth of the district. “I am focusing on the positions, and not the people in those positions,” Weaber said. “I have the highest regard for the people presently holding those positions.”

Weaber said there is a proposal to add $474,200 to retain one districtwide instructional paraprofessional, one Peters classroom teacher; one districtwide technology integration specialist and one administrator.

“I would like to commend administration and school board members for considering to retain the Peters classroom teacher and the districtwide ELDP paraeducator,” he said. “Every educator would agree that we need more teachers and paraeducators in the classrooms working with students and bringing down the ratio of students to teachers.”

He suggested more teachers to meet the growth of the district.

“With this in mind, I would like to ask the administration and school board to really think about whether a districtwide TIS and a director of curriculum, instruction and technology is the best expenditure of part of the $474,200 plus insurance costs,” Weaber said.

“You are proposing transferring and re-purposing positions when it is clear there is money for hiring teachers.”

Last month, Molitoris said the district could get significant increases in its basic education funding.

At that time, she said that Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed state budget calls for a 13.62% increase, or $1.1 billion, to Basic Education to be funded through two different funding formulas.

She said Shapiro also is proposing resetting the base amount back to what is the 2023-2024 amount.

Molitoris said that if the governor’s budget passes, Northern Lehigh’s increase would be $765,000 in additional revenue, which would amount to $8.874 million in yearly Basic Education.

She said Shapiro also proposed $50 million increase to Special Education, for which Northern Lehigh’s increase would be $52,000, with a yearly amount of $1.613 million in Special Education.

The new fiscal year begins July 1.