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Octorara board previews June 16 agenda: $66.5 million budget, millage rates, contracts and extensive personnel items
Summary
Board members reviewed recommended agenda items for the June 16 public meeting including a proposed 2025‑26 general fund budget of $66,500,950, proposed millage rates for Chester and Lancaster counties, multiple contracts and numerous personnel appointments and resignations to be considered.
Board leadership presented a package of recommended agenda items for the district’s June 16 regular public meeting, covering the 2025‑26 general fund budget, proposed millage rates, contracts with vendors and the Chester County Intermediate Unit, and a lengthy set of personnel hires, transfers and resignations.
Key financial items on the proposed June 16 agenda included a resolution to adopt the 2025‑26 general fund budget expenditures of $66,500,950 and a resolution establishing a real estate millage rate of 43.46 mills in Chester County and 25.94 mills in Lancaster County. The board also planned to present a homestead and farmstead exclusion resolution and to designate several financial institutions and investment firms (including Fulton Bank and the PA School District Liquid Asset Fund) for district banking and investment services.
Other recommended agenda items flagged for June 16 included: approving signatories for designated bank accounts effective July 1, 2025; authorizing appropriate budget transfers for year end 2024‑25 after the annual audit; appointing a school dental consultant for 2025‑26; adoption of several course additions and English 9 recommended texts; and a $1,000 digital access cost to adopt OpenSciEd for high school biology.
The agenda also lists multiple contracts and agreements to be presented on June 16 (start and end dates shown on board materials): an enrollment agreement with The Vanguard School for two students (total cost $104,150); a Marketplace Programs contract with the Chester County Intermediate Unit (07/01/2025–06/30/2026); a client agreement with Delta T Group for substitute human services, behavioral health care and nurse services (04/11/2025–06/30/2026); a staffing agreement with GHR Education for pupil services contracted services; a master consulting agreement with Devapar LLC (effective 06/02/2025); and a service agreement with Chester County Intermediate Unit for medical authorizations for school‑based access billing (07/01/2025–06/30/2026).
Personnel items on the proposed agenda are extensive: multiple voluntary transfers due to building realignment, approved hires pending paperwork (with salaries and steps listed in board materials), retirements accepted with regret, resignations effective in June 2025, supplemental contracts and salary adjustments due to earned graduate credits. The board packet named individual employees (for example, Joan McDermott as reading specialist at the Outdoor Primary Learning Center at a stated salary of $83,797 pending required documents, and Paula Spiker as a grade teacher at the intermediate school at $60,229), among many others.
The board also presented recommended summer program employees (rates listed), a change in days worked for a speech‑language pathologist (with new salary listed), and several supplemental contract approvals. Several resignation and termination notices were included in the packet for informational action.
These items were presented for placement on the June 16 agenda; board members moved and approved placing the recommended items on that agenda for the regular meeting. No final votes on the budget, millage or the listed contracts and personnel hires were taken at this meeting; those items are scheduled for formal consideration and votes at the June 16 regular public meeting.
