SCHOOL NEWS
Fox Chapel Area
School directors Monday approved an $81,405,450 budget that holds the tax rate at 21.5576 mills for property owners in Aspinwall, Blawnox, Fox Chapel, Indiana Township, O’Hara and Sharpsburg.
Key elements of the budget include: Expenditures that will increase 2.2 percent; salary line items will increase 5.66 percent due, in part, to unanticipated retirements/positions that were not replaced in the previous year; (the actual average percentage increase in salaries is 2.72 percent); the contribution rate paid to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System will increase from 8.65 percent to 12.36 percent and the amount will be $5.4 million compared with $3.3 million.
Each mill is projected to generate $2,653,386.
Mars Area
Rebecca Laubach, an English teacher at Mars Area High School, has been selected as a winner of the 2012 Red Apple Education Award and will receive a $500 cash grant to benefit the English curriculum at the high school.
She also assists with marriage classes and weddings at her church, volunteers at a charity that rescues wild birds and mentors young people in the community.
The Red Apple Education Award, sponsored by Armstrong Cable and the United Way of Butler County, is presented to one teacher, professor or instructor from each of Butler County’s seven school districts.
Northgate
There will be no rise in taxes for property owners in Avalon and Bellevue under a $19,275,776 budget adopted Monday night that keeps the rate at 28.6 mills.
The cost of salaries and benefits will increase from $18.7 million to approximately $19.2 million, or about 75 percent of the budget, according to Christopher Ursu, director of finance and operations.
The district recently received a $750,000 federal literacy grant. That money will fund the fullday kindergarten program, which was eliminated this year due to budget cuts.
Quaker Valley
School directors Tuesday night approved a $41,071,490 budget with a 0.30-mill tax increase, which raises the property tax rate to 21.25 mills.
The district eliminated five faculty and support staff positions through attrition. Budget reductions also were made in technology, professional development, and various other building and departmental expenditures. Reserve funds will be used to help balance the budget.
The median home value in Quaker Valley is $157,000. The annual taxes for that home will increase by $47 per year.
•A four-year contract was adopted Tuesday with the Quaker Valley Education Association Support Personnel, which represents 55 administrative assistants, educational paraprofessionals, technology technicians, and assistant nurses. The union ratified the contract June 7.
The agreement, which continues through June 30, 2015, contains a wage freeze for 2012-13, but has an average annual wage increase of 2.69 percent over the length of the contract.
In a statement released by the district, Cheryl Savage, president of the association’s Unit 1, said, “Although it is difficult for members to forego a pay increase, this agreement will allow us to maintain stability and provide essential support for Quaker Valley students, families and staff as we go through the next few difficult years.”
Shaler Area
For the second year, students in the high school gifted and talented education program have won the Fairchild Challenge, a multidisciplinary environmental educational outreach program sponsored by Phipps Conservatory.
Students completed the Environmental Action Challenge involving multiple events between October and May that brought all aspects of school, home and community together in a final project with a theme centered around encouraging a healthy lifestyle among grade school students, the “greening” of the high school campus, and a community food bank project featuring fresh produce planted and grown by students.
The team finished first overall in the challenge and received a $1,000 grant for green initiative projects at the high school.
Among individual awards were: junior Raeanna Wohlfarth, first place, Challenge 6, Research Projects for a green roof design, and honorable mention in Challenge 2, photojournalism; and seniors Derek Reno and Rebecca Wakeley, second place, Challenge 6, Research Projects for the creation of a Guide to Medicinal Plants of Western Pennsylvania.
Also, the Shaler team finished first in Challenge 7, Environmental Action for the “Planting the Seeds for Greener Tomorrow,” a project that involved more than 35 students in grades 9-12.