Dear Families,
 
I hope you are getting ready to enjoy your summer vacation!  As we wind down our school year, the debate over the state budget is just warming up.   I wanted to take a moment and encourage you to call and write to your legislators.  Remind them how cyber schooling has helped your family.
 
We will keep you updated as the debates progress.  Check our website and your emails for updates. Find time to meet with your legislators when they're home for the weekends and at other times. Attend events where they're speaking; arrange a group of other cyber school families to meet with legislators when they are in the district.
 
I also wanted to share with you an article that appeared in the Times-Leader newspaper recently. I have included the article below.
 
Again, public cyber schools are being used as scapegoats for tax increases and fiscal problems in traditional schools. It is simply not fair or truthful!
 
The district cannot say how many students from their district attend cyber schools but yet somehow our schools are to blame for their tax increase! These unflattering and unfair portraits must be countered by the substance of what our children experience every day as public cyber school students.
 
Please write to the Time-Leader and tell them your stories.  You can send your letters to the editor to mailbag@timesleader.com.  When you write please keep your letters to 200 words.  Also make sure you include your name and address or the paper will not print them.  

Thank you all for helping dispel the myths surrounding cyber schools!
 
Keep moving forward!
 
Cindy Strausburger
President


Hanover Area tentative budget calls for tax increase


HANOVER TWP. – Hanover Area School Board Friday approved a tentative $26 million budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year that would raise taxes by approximately $50 per household, according to board President Anthony Gagliardi.

The district faces a budget in which 96 percent of the expenditures are fixed, he said. The board did all it could to minimize costs and avoid any tax increases, he said.

The vote for the proposed budget was seven for the budget with two board members absent.

Gagliardi pointed out the budget at this time is a “working budget” and will be reviewed continually until June 29. If possible, the board will make additional cost cuts before the budget is finalized at the end of June, he said.

“The board has worked and will continue to work diligently to keep the cost of education in Hanover Area School District at a minimum and the standards of education high,” he said.

However, as the costs continue to climb and state reimbursements shrink, the board had to ask taxpayers to bear a larger burden. The district faces rising costs of regular instruction and special education salaries and fringe benefits, debt services, insurance, utility costs, equipment leases, building maintenance and upkeep, the cost of educational programs, transportation and supplies, he said.

“As we all know, the cost of running a household rises every year and so do our school expenses,” Gagliardi said.

District business administrator Joseph Kochuba pointed out the costs of students attending charter schools rose from $100,000 to $400,000 per year in the last few years. The state Department of Education only reimburses the district for 20 percent of those costs, he said.

The increase in charter school costs is due to the expansion of “cyber-schools,” said Superintendent Anthony Podczasy.

He did not have specific numbers available about how many students in the district participate in cyber-schools or the average cost per student but he said the number keeps increasing.

Kochuba also identified escalating cost of special education in the district. Currently at $3.3 million annually, Kochuba said the state currently reimburses the district $1.2 million, less than half. The difference between reimbursement and the costs becomes the responsibility of the taxpayers, he added.

Gagliardi pointed out homeowners qualifying under the Pennsylvania Homestead Relief Act will receive a $205 tax credit.

A copy of the proposed budget will be on display for the inspection of the general public from June 8 to June 29 in the district administrative office located at the junior/senior high school located on the Sans Souci Parkway.