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Berwick Area School District faces $2.9 million budget gap; board weighs attrition-based staff cuts
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Summary
At a work session, district staff outlined a projected $2.9 million deficit and presented options to reduce the shortfall — chiefly attrition-driven staffing changes that would avoid layoffs but raise elementary class sizes and cut some curriculum and technology spending.
At a Berwick Area School District work session, district staff presented a projected $2.9 million budget shortfall and a menu of options to narrow the gap, emphasizing changes designed to avoid layoffs.
A staff member leading the budget discussion said the $2.9 million figure “does not include any increase in real estate tax” and cautioned that expected state revenue — about $848,000 in the governor’s proposal — is uncertain. “I don't count money before we have it,” the staff member said.
The proposals the district described center on reducing positions through retirement and attrition rather than involuntary layoffs. One modeled option would revise the middle-school schedule into team-based configurations that S2 said could eliminate three positions through attrition while keeping concurrent specials and adding planning time. S2 estimated that eliminating three positions would save roughly $375,000.
Other specific recommendations included moving a high-school science teacher to the middle school, reducing counselor coverage across elementary buildings, cutting some reading-specialist hours, and trimming planned curriculum spending from $185,000 to $85,000. S2 also suggested cutting $70,000 from the technology replacement budget for staff laptops and classifying certain purchases, such as a $36,500 sidewalk snow brush, as potential one-time capital expenses.
Several board members pushed back on reductions to elementary intervention services. A committee member said reducing reading specialists and elementary counselors would “not be serving students,” arguing early intervention is critical and urging caution before making cuts that could affect students with behavioral or special-education needs.
Board members and staff also discussed whether one-time transfer taxes from data-center property assessments should fund recurring expenses. The staff member warned that transfer-tax receipts are one-time money and urged using those funds for one-time projects rather than as structural revenue.
No formal vote on the specific staffing changes appears in the transcript. The staff member said motions to enact options would be added at meetings next week and that the board must finalize a budget to meet public-display and adoption deadlines in May. The district will continue budget deliberations with an eye to retirements, state budget action, and data-center tax assessments that could change available revenue.
What’s next: the board plans further budget motions next week and must publish a proposed final budget for public inspection 30 days before a May adoption vote.
