Council Rock proposes new literacy specialists, high-school staff and support roles in 2025–26 budget

Superintendent Andy Sanko and curriculum leaders told the education committee on May 22 that several staffing additions are included in the district's preliminary 2025–26 budget to address literacy, special education and high-school capacity.

Sanko said the district currently has two reading specialists at the high-school level (one at North and one at South) but no literacy specialists at the middle-school level. The budget request includes four additional elementary literacy specialists and staffing to expand middle-level literacy coverage. "This is a gap that we think it would be important to fill," Sanko said, explaining that literacy specialists help deploy interventions tied to universal screening and PSSA and other data.

The budget also proposes restoring a dedicated shipper/receiver at each high school. Sanko said the shared position system has been strained by increases in deliveries and sensitive materials (for example, high-stakes testing materials and refrigerated science specimens) and cited a prior incident on a loading dock that highlighted the value of a dedicated receiving position.

Instructional staffing requests in the packet include a 0.8 position at Council Rock High School South tied to an approximately 25% increase in that school's emotional-support program, additions at Council Rock High School North to address rising enrollment (the school is approaching about 1,700 students) and course demand in science and financial literacy, and a 0.5 payroll position to add redundancy in payroll processing.

Committee members confirmed these requests were unchanged from the previously approved preliminary budget. Sanko and staff said proposed hires will be posted with preferred qualifications where appropriate (the district discussed preferring Wilson certification for new literacy specialists when possible). The district will return additional detail during the budget review process.