DASD School Board reviews no tax increase budget by Glenn Schuckers
The DuBois Area School Board held its regular meeting at the Administrative Center on June 16, 2022. All members except Mark Gilga and Charlie Watt were present.
The first item on the agenda was the 2022-2023 budget, which was presented totaling $70,441,109. That total is approximately 3 million higher than the 2021-2022 budget of $67,545. As finance director Jeanette Buriak had explained at a prior meeting, DuBois’ budgets are always done on the conservative side with possible expenses higher than they will probably be and revenues lower, allowing for possible emergency expenditures in the coming year. Since a good portion of the school’s revenue comes from state funding, and since state funding will not be known until its budget is finalized, exact figures are not possible at this date. The bottom line for taxpayers is that there will not be any school tax increase and no current programs will be affected.
The bid for custodial/maintenance supplies was awarded to two suppliers, Janitors Supply, Inc. for $3877 and DeSantis Solutions for $18,830. The Board also approved a quote from Glass Erectors, Inc. for a secure vestibule at the High School at a cost of $29,4329. The District will also purchase a multi-passenger student vehicle from Tri-Star Ford in the amount of $58,931, the final price to be offset by a grant of $25,000. Students at the High School will also not have to pay to park at the school but will only need to register their vehicle and display a parking permit.
Senior Julia Wirths and junior Dominic Vizza were also approved as tuner Representatives to the Board for the coming year.
A number of individuals were hired for the coming year including the following: Jacob Landini as a science instructor, Ryan Troupe an elementary instructor, Lauren Alworth as a special education instructor, Kristin Hawthorn, an English as a Seond Language instructor, Nathaniel Horner an English instructor, Katelyn Heigel a speech/language pathologist and Audrey Null as Director of Virtual Academy. The Board also approved the hiring of Amanda Rosman as Assistant Athletic Director at a salary of $5,000.
The Board also accepted the retirement of traveling custodial Christopher Curley who has been employed by the District for 29 years.
Superintendent Wendy Benton reported that the ESport team held its first competition the previous week with 36 students attending along with parents and visitors. Some of those visitors included colleges and universities that have ESport teams including St. Francis and Mount Aloysius.
