SAINT CLAIR - All options are on the table for the Saint Clair Area school board to balance its 2014-15 budget that has a $1.5 million deficit.
One decision was already made during the meeting Wednesday night, where the school board approved cutting kindergarten from a full-day to a half-day program.
The meeting attracted the public, parents, teachers and students Wednesday night and it was a full house in Saint Clair Area Elementary/Middle School's cafeteria.
The school board also adopted the 2014-15 preliminary budget in the amount of $11,278,124 and approved Principal Jason S. Bendle to serve as the acting superintendent/principal until a replacement is named, but not to exceed one year.
"I am doing both roles at the same salary as I was yesterday," Bendle said answering a question from the public.
Those that attended the meeting were able to question the school board both before and after the voting part of the meeting.
While many thought the main reason for the huge deficit is due to the about $13 million addition and renovation project, the board stated that although the state is withholding money for the Planning and Construction Workbook, or PlanCon, which helps school districts renovate existing buildings and construct new ones by providing approved projects with a portion of the overall project cost, that is not the main reason for the deficit.
The PlanCon reimbursements would make up about $300,000 of that deficit for this year.
Students returned to school this fall to the completely renovated building, which added six classrooms, two special education rooms, a music room, a large instruction room, 23 on-site parking spaces - including spaces for the handicapped - and a play yard on the building's roof.
After questions were asked regarding the state of the school district, board President Michael Holobetz read a statement that he had planned to save until the end of the meeting.
Holobetz said that some of the reasons for the deficit is the cost of sending students to charter schools, either brick-and-mortar or cyber, which there are 44 students and Saint Clair pays the charter schools a total of about $500,000 a year.
He also said that there are rising costs for special education, increased mandated contributions to employee pension plans and increasing costs in health care benefits.
With kindergarten reduced to a half day, both a morning and afternoon session, this could potentially cut the amount of kindergarten teachers by two.
Other ideas to balance the budget include the possibility of keeping eighth-grade students another year, having them attend ninth grade at Saint Clair, instead of sending them to Pottsville Area High School.
"I hate to keep saying this, but everything is on the table," Holobetz said.
Other questions from the public included if the board members would be willing to donate their stipend for serving, which Holobetz said only the treasurer and secretary receive one and have already agreed to forego it.
One of the last questions of the night brought up that since the school has paid for tuition reimbursement for its staff, and is paying for Bendle to receive his superintendent certificate, if it had paid for previous Superintendent Kendy K. Hinkel's doctorate degree, if there was anything in her contract about how long she had to stay at the district and if she would have to pay the credits back.
The board said that the school district did give Hinkel a tuition reimbursement for her to receive her doctorate degree and there was nothing in her contract about that.
Hinkel was superintendent from 2007 until Oct. 31, 2013.
She is now the superintendent in the Pine Grove Area School District, which hired her with a four-year contract at $115,000 a year during a special meeting Oct. 3 to fill the position vacated by Brian Uplinger, who left June 28 to take a superintendent position with the Central Greene School District, Waynesburg.
While no time frame was given for the decisions that have to be made, all decisions will have to be made by June 30.
The board is welcoming all suggestions from the public and encourages them to contact their local legislators and attend the meetings to voice their opinions and get involved.
One person from the public in attendance said that she had come to one or two meetings and noticed that no one from the public ever attends, so all are guilty of not being involved.
The school board holds its work sessions at 6 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month in the school cafeteria and the voting meeting at 6 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month in the same place.
The school district website will also be updated soon with ways to email the board members.