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School district plans .89 mill tax increase
By GARY P. KLINGER
Ephrata Review
Published: May 15, 2008 10:45 AM EST
EPHRATA - The Ephrata School Board approves its proposed budget for the 2008-2009
school year that would raise property taxes by .89 mills.
Real
estate taxes would be set at 18.09 mills with total expenditures for the
period to be $56,671,556.
"I am glad to see that we have reduced the
proposed budget over the past months since December," said board member,
Kay Kurtz. "My question would be whether we couldn't pass a budget that
actually reduces taxes by 1 mill."
Business Manager Roger Brubaker
said contractual obligations and economic factors reducing revenue received
from other sources– such as the real estate transfer tax –do
not offer a practical way to do that.
"Assessed values on homes are
also down at this point in time," said Brubaker. "We've also reduced on the
expenditure side to the extent possible. As much as I would like to see the
taxes reduced, it is just not an option for this
budget."
Superintendent Gerald Rosati said the state has also not
adopted its budget yet.
"In fact, they are just starting to talk
about it, but their final budget has an impact on our budget in terms of
state funding," Rosati said.
Kurtz and board member Allyson Snyder
casted the dissenting votes on the budget.
***
The Ephrata
Middle School incident that occured four weeks ago brought 17 concerned
residents to the meeting. Bob Miller, board president offered a prepared
statement on the matter:
"A nonviolent, consensual incident occurred
between students in April in a middle school classroom. The teacher, who
was in the room the entire time, was unaware at the time that it occurred.
The incident was reported to the teacher at the beginning of the next class
period, and the teacher immediately reported the matter to the Middle
School Office. The administration immediately began its investigation of
the incident. The administration also called and contacted the parents of
the students in that class the very same day.
"The district acted
immediately, beginning its investigation immediately and the district
called the parents in the class immediately. There was no cover up at all,
neither by the teacher nor by any member of the administration. Further the
School Board was fully apprised of the situation, and members were advised
by our legal counsel not to discuss the details of the situation with the
public. While the School District is constrained by rules of privacy and
confidentiality, others are not, and word of the incident
spread.
"The district then sent a letter to the parents of all
seventh and eighth grade students about the incident. The letter stated
that the students mutually engaged in inappropriate behavior. Thus, the
behavior was mutual and consensual, and not in any way forced or violent.
The letter also assured that the matter was being fully investigated and
would be appropriately handled.
"The district understands that
parents and the media would like more information, but unfortunately that
was not appropriate in this situation as the matter involves student
privacy and confidentiality issues. There are various federal and state
statutes and regulation which address the confidentiality of student
matters and the privacy rights of students. For example, the federal Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits the disclosure of
certain student educational records and personally identifiable
information. Various state acts and regulations address student privacy and
confidentiality. It is also recognized in various statutes and regulations
that personnel matters should be kept confidential. Therefore the District
did not provide any details or facts of what occurred, nor will the
District discuss what actions have been and are being taken with respect to
the individuals involved.
"After the article appeared in the Ephrata
Review, the district contacted the newspaper to advise that neither
weapons, nor drugs were involved. Prior to that article, the district had
not heard any 'rumors' about drugs or weapons and thus did not see any need
to refute such.
"The classroom teacher where the incident occured
has resigned. Robert Eisemann will be teaching this class for the remainder
of the school year. Eisemann taught at Ephrata Middle School for 37 years,
and recently completed a short-term science replacement on another eighth
grade team."
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