Northern Lehigh School District is weighing enhancing its music and theater program and other expenses in its 2024-25 budget.

At the school board meeting Monday, business manager Sherri Molitoris said current expenditures are $39,683,685. Proposed additional expenditures totaling $451,139, include stage rigging replacement, $200,000; Peters School dishwasher plus installation, $63,808; sound system upgrades, $53,782; Peters Elementary and Slatington Elementary marquees, $50,000 each; middle school steamer plus installation, $23,299, and high school dishwasher plus installation, $10,250.

New considerations, along with potential recurring costs, adds $297,560, and would include an additional full-time English language development teacher, $126,280; additional full-time secondary music teacher, $126,280; new theater program budget, $35,000; and new music program budget, $10,000. The theater could bring $20,000 in potential revenues.

Molitoris said she anticipates ending fund balance to be $16.9 million at the end of the year.

Expenses at $40,432,384, and revenues at (without fund balance use) $38,740,711, would leave a budget shortfall of $1,691,673.

If the $420,000 one-time purchases and retirement contributions are taken out, the district would still be $1,271,673 short with no tax increase. With the $420,000, the current fund balance would be $16,451,542. With the potential one-time purchases and recurring costs, the ending fund balance would be $15,179,869.

“So whatever the district would decide to do with a tax increase, it would lower that $1.2 million, plus we also have the potential of $470,000-some in additional revenue yet from the state if the state comes through,” Molitoris said. “Anything in additional revenues that we would get would be used to offset the shortfall that we currently have.”

Last month, the board adopted the proposed final budget of $39,756,355 for 2024-2025, which called for a 5.12% increase. The board will hold a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. June 24 to approve the final 2024-2025 budget.

Directors give feedback

Director Chad Christman asked what purchases are necessary.

Superintendent Dr. Matthew J. Link said the top three food service items are the high school dishwasher, middle school steamer, and Peters dishwasher.

Link said theater directors are strongly recommending sound system upgrades, and stage rigging replacement.

Digital marquees would be used for emergency notifications.

Link said the number of multi-language learners that are coming into the district continues to increase, and that it’s an area the district fully anticipates will continue to grow.

Link said the plan is to continue to build the music department at the secondary level to offer daytime instruction for everything from general music classes to instrumental classes.

Link said the new theater program budget and new music program budget are equally important.

“We need to start recognizing the value of those programs to the level that we recognize the value of our athletic programs here in Northern Lehigh School District,” Link said. “Great staff, great students do great things, but I feel like maybe we’re only scratching the surface of what they can do because they’ve been historically underfunded.

“I can say at my core I believe that they are all very important to the work that we’re trying to do here in the school district.”

Director Natalie Snyder asked if the district had not received the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund funds, would the district have looked to hire these people.

“I’m concerned that we are continuing with these positions when we really may not have had that money to do it in the first place,” Snyder said.

Link answered, “I don’t know if the board would have hired them if that money did not exist.” “Administration recognized the need and the opportunity that we do need positions like these to improve the services that we offer here in the school district,” Link said.

Snyder said that while we she understood the need, “everybody’s suffering from this rough economy we are in. The cost of everything is going up and it’s becoming harder and harder to afford things.”

Link said, “We’ve been very deliberate in the last four to five years in when we want to spend money, when we want to save money. If we start to eliminate some of these positions, I believe that will be an immediate disservice to our students here.”

Director Gale Husack said that while she doesn’t want to see a tax increase, she’d rather see it at a 1 or 2%, and that she’s in support of some of this.

“I don’t want a tax increase, but at the same time I’d rather see some of those smaller changes that are big impacts for our students,” Husack said.

Director Gary Fedorcha said he is in favor of anything that helps the students. “That’s what we’re here for,” he said.

Director Robert Kern Jr. said balance is important. “I think with a very small tax raise we can make this work,” Kern said.

Board president Mathias Green Jr. agreed, “You can’t get better grades if you’re not willing to spend some of the money to buy the tools and materials that are necessary to make that happen.”

The consensus of the board is that it put the one-time purchases in the budget.

Molitoris said if the district would take $871,139 out of fund balance, and remove the $126,280 for the music teacher, it would leave a shortfall of $694,212.

“What you do with a tax increase will come off that,” she said.

State funding could also fill in the balance.