Politics & Government

Finance Chief Says District $8 Million in Black

A year ago, BASD had a deficit of more than $1 million

The Bethlehem Area School District closed out its last school year with an operating surplus of $8 million, the district's finance chief told the school board Monday night.

The number won't be official until the annual financial audit is completed, which should happen in February, said Stacy M. Gober, the assistant to the superintendent for finance and administration.

That is a significant turnaround for a school district, which finished the 2008-2009 school year with an operating deficit of more than $1 million.

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Financial difficulties forced the district to make significant cuts, even while raising the real estate tax rate in each of the last two years.

"It is a credit to the school board and school administration from last year that we are in this position," said Superintendent Joseph J. Roy.

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Jolene Vitalos, president of the Bethlehem Education Association, the teachers' union, praised the current board for acting quickly to offer a "fair and fiscally responsible three-year contract" to the union, which the board ratified at its last meeting.

"This board is courageous," Vitalos said.

The deal offers an average pay hike of 3.9 percent a year during the life of the contract, while teachers will pay more for health benefits.

Vitalos noted that some in the community have been critical of the deal, though none of that was evident during the meeting.

"Our nation continues to demonize teachers," the union president said.

In Bethlehem, teachers volunteer extra time, their own resources and money to help children in the community, she said. It is not the highest paid group of teachers in the Lehigh Valley, even though nearly 70 percent of them hold Master's degrees and they deal with a much higher rate of societal problems than many of their colleagues from other districts, Vitalos said.

Finally, the board accepted the resignation of Assistant Superintendent Thomas K. Washington, who has been a distict employee for at least 10 years, he said.

Washington, who is in charge of district human resources, has accepted the superintendent's position at the Penn Hills School District in Allegheny County. The resignation is effective Feb. 4.ο»Ώ


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