Octorara Area School District

Traditional schools, charters share the pain | Philadelphia Inquirer | 2011-04-01

As the economy began to take a sharper turn for the worse, schools everywhere have taken a more critical look at their budgets and, in most cases, to tighten their belts.

Small, charter schools often had more flexible easier to cope with budget cuts that the district public to help them finance.

In Chester County, the Avon Grove Charter School has found that several measures, including a smaller administrative staff, were buffered by the budget cuts that have crippled other programs.

However, charter schools often end thank you to their local districts.As Kevin Brady, the head of the School Avon Grove Charter, said: "If a district is feeling financial pain, they can spread very easily to us [charter school]."

Avon Grove Charter felt that pain directly in the middle of the economic crisis. The Oxford area school district has refused to pay the charter school for six months until the state approved its budget.

Charter schools get funding in the district for each student. A public school is funded by student well, but Avon Grove Charter receives about 68 percent of what would be given to a student in a traditional public school.

The loss of a student to a charter school can have a significant impact on the budget of a public school. When students move to charter schools, they pull funding that the district is left to cover.

A school district receives a refund of time for the loss of a student to a charter school. However, the cost of sending students to charter schools totaled $ 346,215 for the District Octorara Area School in the budget year 2009-10. The district has considered trying to attract students back from charters to help alleviate a budget deficit preliminary $ 2.2 million.

The loss of students from cyber charter schools also claimed the district. The school board is considering a program to bring students to a cyber charter cyber school district performance. This could save the district about $ 3,500 per student.

Charter and public misfortunes school budget are not limited to their interactions with each other. The Octorara district school area is also reviewed administrative costs, which the school board wants to cut about 10 percent.

Octorara Area School District eyes 7 teacher furloughs ...

The Octorara School District District plans to put seven members of teaching staff on leave and introducing major changes to reduce educational costs and administrative control over its budget in light of the recent budget cuts and federal.

"I have great difficulty reading this" school board President Lisa Bowman said during the work session Monday night as she read the names of employees who could be cut.

The list includes Jim Weagley, athletic director and school and community activities, and six other full-time teachers and part-time.In addition, four retirements - including teaching high school Spanish teacher at the elementary, primary and secondary school librarian reading specialist - will not be replaced if, on Monday, the school board gives Superintendent Tom Newcome a favorable response to proposed cuts.

"We're losing good people through the process of seniority and retirement," Newcome said. "This is very difficult, but we must move if we do our work on the budget, he said. Newcome noted that the reorganization of staff and administrators means that changes have the least impact on students.

Newcome also recommends that the district to reorganize the school and the college, which are side by side in an operations center to be named Octorara Junior-Senior High School.

Because the two schools, including schools, recently renovated, high, offer all the amenities, the change does not mean that students will be the seventh having lunch with the eleventh graders. It does not mean, however, that the administration will be reorganized and relies on more duties, and that the old model of team teaching used in middle school will be replaced.

Newcome request for Board approval on April 18 so he can proceed to obtain approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the maneuver. Newcome said teachers sharing between buildings without the team teaching allows certain permissions because the instructional time for students to gain.

For college students, it also means that students will gain a seventh-grade reading period, the college Unified Arts program will be expanded; band and music classes will be scheduled, and time using individual will be eliminated.

Newcome also proposes that because a school librarian high retires, the District to create two positions in libraries - one for grades K-6 and one for classes 7-12. Each school building would have a library assistant half a day.

Octorara Area School District, analysis of demographic trends; projections of housing, population and public school enrollments through 1998

Mdr's School Directory 2001-2002

CIC's school directory

Cic's School Directory. Complete Set, 1993-94

Government Employee Relations Report - Number 408 July 5, 1971