POTTSTOWN PA – Pottsgrove School District Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis gulped air and offered a thin smile Tuesday (Jan. 18, 2011) when he heard what the district Board of School Directors hopes for from a citizens’ committee of 2011-’12 budget advisers.

At the school board's table Tuesday night, from left, Directors David Faulkner and Philip Keogh, and Business Administrator David Nester.

Ten percent, or about $5.8 million in potential savings from the preliminary budget the district has submitted as its first draft of next year’s spending plan, is the goal directors set for Landis to announce when a group of up to 60 volunteers meets Feb. 1 (2011; Tuesday) to begin examining those expenses in depth.

After board members issued their charge, President Michael Neiffer patted Landis on the shoulder and offered a “hey-no-problem” smile in return.

Board members made it clear they alone would decide whether they could, or want to, follow whatever recommendations the volunteers make. They said, too, that suggested cuts might be implemented over not just one but two or three budget periods.

The real value, though, of upcoming discussions by the “Community Budget Task Force,” as the volunteer group is known, may be “the feedback on what people are willing to have us sacrifice,” said Director April Kontostathis, “the appetite for what they’re willing to do without.”

Directors late last year authorized Landis to call for local residents to step up and provide a fresh set of eyes to look at the district’s spending choices. They anticipated then what Business Administrator David Nester described during Tuesday’s board meeting as a “big concern” over how much basic education subsidy money will be supplied by Pennsylvania at a time when the state is deep in debt and its new governor has promised no tax increases.

The subsidy, what the state pays to support education in each district, could be more than $950,000 lower than what Pennsylvania might provide under normal circumstances, Nester said. The difference, unless Pottsgrove can make sufficient cuts, will be added to the district tax burden borne by property owners.

For the task force to do its best work, Director Fred Remelius noted, “we do ourselves a disservice if we take anything off the table.” That means all potential cuts, he said, even the board’s most sacred cow in recent years – smaller class sizes – should be up for discussion.

Board member David Faulkner agreed. “The greater the challenge you give the public, the more thought they’ll give it,” he added.

The task force will be divided into six different committees, each containing a majority of volunteers as well as a board member and a district administrator. Beyond Feb. 1, their meetings are scheduled for Feb. 15, March 15, and March 29, with a preliminary report to be delivered to the board by April 12.

A board vote to adopt a tentative budget, the second draft, is set for April 26.

Related (to the Pottsgrove School District 2011-2012 budget):

• Challenge To Pottsgrove Budget Advisers: 10 Percent
• Best Guesses, Deficit Launch Pottsgrove Budget Season
• Senate Education Chair Preps For Voucher, Choice Battle
• School Board Questions Pottsgrove Recreation Costs
• Pension Reform Vote Could Benefit Pottsgrove, Others
• Notebook Worthy: News Reporters Made News Tuesday
• Pottsgrove Isn’t Waiting In Search For Budget Volunteers
• If You’ve Got A Budget Idea, Pottsgrove Says It’ll Listen
• Pottsgrove Seeks More Public Input On District Budget

Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ meeting of Jan. 18):

• Challenge To Pottsgrove Budget Advisers: 10 Percent
• Best Guesses, Deficit Launch Pottsgrove Budget Season
• Pottsgrove Canceled Tuesday School Board Meeting
• Few Change Orders, So Far, At Ringing Rocks