Highlands hikes taxes, lays off 26, reconfigures schools

Despite strong opposition from an audience made up of more than 100 community members, the Highlands School District on Monday voted to increase taxes, furlough 26 employees and reconfigure the district's schools in an effort to fix a budget crisis that just came to light last week.

School board members voted 5-4 to reconfigure the schools; 9-0 to pass the proposed 2018-19 budget, which includes a 3.5 percent tax increase; and 9-0 to furlough the employees, 7 whom are teachers.

"New superintendent!" one woman called out after the vote to reconfigure the schools.

The meeting, held in the high school auditorium, lasted more than three hours. Dozens of people lined up to address the board before they voted to reconfigure the schools, including Harrison resident Clint Crowell, 36, who has protested the reconfiguration plan before.

He said he was disappointed and surprised by the vote.

"I think that the community came with a lot of good questions and I'm hoping that the board continues in a dialogue to keep the community informed but also allow them to be part of the timeline and helping our students transition into this newly configured school district," he said.

The reconfiguration will have all kindergarten and prekindergarten students at Fairmount; grades 1-4 at Grandview; and grades 5-8 at the middle school. The high school is unaffected.

Audience members said they were concerned with how the district would operate without the furloughed employees, how younger students would fare being placed in schools and on buses with older students, and the fact the district couldn't immediately disclose how much debt it incurred.

The tax increase would raise the district's property tax rate from 23.8 mills to 24.633 mills, increasing the average tax bill for a home assessed at $59,000 by $50 a year.

District officials said last week the big ticket items driving the deficit are escalating expenses for the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, tuition charges for charter school enrollments and special education tuition costs. To cover the pension expense and restructure debt, the board voted unanimously last Monday to borrow up to nearly $11.5 million.

Additionally, the board voted to furlough 26 employees, 7 of whom are teachers. There is one social worker, three behavior specialists, one secretary and 14 aides. They declined to immediately identify the employees to the Trib, saying they wanted to make sure they were all notified of the decision first.

Board President Debbie Beale voted in favor of the reconfiguration. She said it's something that needed to be done.

"I'm in full support," she said. "There was a lot of work put into this and going forward to keep the budget in line this had to be done. We have the right staff in place to support the academics, to support the move and to support the curriculum going forward."

School director Misty Chybrzynski voted against it.

"I actually like the plan and I did do a lot of research into it," she said. "I just felt that, at a parental level, if they were that concerned about some of the things like the transitioning, that we could explore it a little further if it wasn't going to be (detrimental) to the district's budget."

Beale said she understands how the community feels about the reconfiguration. Several people left immediately following the vote. They screamed and yelled at the board members.

"I understand the emotion; change is difficult," she said. "We just have to reassure as a board and an administration that we're going to do everything we can to make this a positive transition."

Madasyn Czebiniak is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-226-4702, mczebiniak@tribweb.com, or on Twitter @maddyczebstrib.