Knoch announces preliminary 2023-24 school budget
SAXONBURG — Knoch School District business manager Jamie Van Lenten presented a preliminary version of the district’s proposed 2023-24 fiscal year spending plan at Wednesday, May 3, night’s school board work session.
The preliminary budget will be voted on at the regular school board meeting Wednesday, May 10.
Expenditures in the preliminary 2023-24 budget amount to $38,457,999, up from $38,291,073 in this year’s finalized budget. Meanwhile, revenue in the preliminary budget comes out to $38,407,191, up from $37,651,537 from 2022-23.
Knoch projects it will finish the 2022-23 school year with a deficit of $639,485.
Forty-two percent of revenue in the proposed 2023-24 budget is projected to come from real estate taxes, with another 23% coming from the state’s Basic Education Funding subsidy.
There are no plans for Knoch to increase the tax rate in the school district, which will stay at 94.275 mills, as it has since 2018.
Among the district’s financial goals for the next school year are to staff its full-day kindergarten program which will begin next fall, as well as “maintain current programs” and “repurpose staff based on the needs of students”.
All school districts in Pennsylvania must adopt a final budget for the upcoming school year by June 30.
Later during the meeting, district superintendent David Foley announced the district will vote next week on whether to join other Western Pennsylvania school districts in a growing lawsuit against big social media companies, including the owners of Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
The Seneca Valley, Mars Area and Moniteau school districts also are joining the suit against the social media companies. They are being represented by attorney Tom King of the law firm Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham LLP.
“The school district’s concerned with the health, safety, and welfare of our students,” Foley said. “Social media has been a challenge, with students bullying students ... and it’s become disruptive to the educational process.”
If Knoch chooses to go ahead with the lawsuit, its decision will not be without precedent. According to Foley, Knoch already has received $37,000 from the settlement of a similar class-action lawsuit against e-cigarette manufacturer Juul, who agreed to pay out $38.8 million dollars this past December to settle a lawsuit from the state of Pennsylvania.
Knoch’s decision will be made at next Wednesday’s regular school board meeting.
