[Editor’s Note:] This April 1 article (Schools get OK to hike taxes) in the Intelligencer Journal/New Era states that several school districts including “Columbia have already announced they don’t plan to use their exceptions” to raise taxes.

From the GOVERNMENT CALENDAR in the Lancaster Sunday News (March 27, 2011): “Columbia School District The Columbia School District Board of Directors will hold a community forum to discuss the 2011-2012 budget at 7 P.M. Tuesday, March 29, in the auditorium at the High School, 200 N. Fifth St., Columbia.”

[NOTE:] We just received a call from a citizen (a taxpayer and long-time resident) informing us that a call to the School District office clarified that tonight’s meeting will be in the high school auditorium (901 Ironville Pike, Columbia – on the hill). The citizen wanted to clarify conflicting information that is circulating and differs from the published information.

“This information is posted at the Columbia School District Website (below): “Special additional meetings may be scheduled from time to time and these are pre-advertised in the Legal Notices of the Lancaster newspaper. All meetings are held at the District Administration Center, 200 North Fifth Street in Columbia, PA, 17512.”

 

And be sure to read the article, “School cuts will come in all sizes,” the page one article about the meetings at county school districts and the programs and services that are being reduced or abolished. 

 

 

 

In neighboring Penn Manor School District (link to Penn Manor School District Treasurer’s Report information), for example, the article cites: “Penn Manor will eliminate midday kindergarten transportation next year; money provided to teachers to purchase miscellaneous school supplies will be cut back; floors could be polished less often; and the district will cut back on playground mulch, which won’t be replenished every year unless there’s a safety issue due to too little mulch, Penn Manor Superintendent Michael Leichliter said.

“‘We will not make cuts that will put the safety of students at risk,’ Leichliter said. Penn Manor doesn’t want to save a few dollars today, he said, if that will ‘exponentially increase maintenance issues in three to five years’.

“‘Like the rest of our budget cuts, this means we will be engaged in a constant balancing act,’ he said.

“He’s met with athletic booster groups and PTOs, ‘asking them to take their share of the pain.’ Teresa Rineer, president of the PTO at Letort Elementary School, said the PTOs at all the district’s schools are talking about ways they can work together to save the district money — and maybe, programs.

“‘Instead of every school having a movie night, maybe we just do one big one, and save money on the movie licenses we have to buy,’ said Rineer, mother of a middle-schooler and a sixth-grader. ‘Maybe we don’t do three assemblies next year, we do two; maybe we join forces with other school districts, get the same people for assemblies and get discounts.’

help from boxtops

“Already, she said, families have stepped up. Letort Elementary is having a ‘March Madness’ label contest to see which class can collect the most Box Tops For Education and Labels For Education, which generate money for school districts; this year the school has tripled the number of labels it collected last year.

“‘We don‘t want our kids going door to door; we need to find creative ways to be helpful,’ she said.

“‘If we stay united, we’ll be able to make a small dent.’

“Still, Leichliter, the superintendent, said he suspects the coming austerity will take many parents by surprise.

“He said that in the past, when a parent called the school district asking officials to add a bus stop for their child, the district did so almost reflexively. But that can no longer be the case.

“‘By law, we can ask a student to walk a mile and a half’ to a bus stop, he said. Not that the district would necessarily do that, but more stops mean a greater cost; and ‘I think people are going to be surprised’ if they call, ask for a new stop, and the answer is ‘no,’ he said.

“Unfortunately, he said, this is only the beginning.

“‘We’re making the easy cuts now,’ he said. ‘The ones next year and in the following years are going to be tougher.’

“‘The next few years in our schools is going to be a story of shared pain,’ he said.”