Primer for Penn Trafford Residents 1.

Act 1 A PA state law that limits any school board tax increases to an inflation adjusted maximum. 2. Administration cost The cost of overhead in the school district in positions like the school superintendent, business manager, school principals, and their support staff. 3. Board Performance The historical tax increases, staffing adjustments, and cost reductions that influence the school districts current budgets. 4. Budget Uncertainties Items in a budget that make future budget forecasting difficult. PSERS, Subsidy for education funding, future union contract content, impact of Obamacare, are examples. 5. Building Renovations A combination of safety, security, and improvements judged by the PT school board as justified as an additional cost to the budget. 6. Butlers Blog The previous superintendents (Dr. Butler) blog that was an attempt to engage and inform on school district issues. Beware of vile and viscous comments encouraged by its anonymous posting capability. It is the only place to obtain budgets for the past couple of years for comparison. 7. Chris Foreman An editor at the Penn-Trafford Star who follows school district issues. 8. Current Millage Rate 74.85 or .07485 of assessed property value. 9. Debt Service the amount of money in the budget for payment of loans. 10. Dinosaur, or technology dinosaur A term for members of the board who continue to rely solely on school board meetings for citizen input, who do not see the benefits of other approaches such as Richs or Tonis Facebook site.. 11. Financial Considerations A summary of the PT business managers future budget forecast. 12. Fund Balance, or Reserve A PT fund to address PSERS and other rapidly growing budget items. There were two, PSERS and General, recently combined into one reserve. 13. George Dunbar PTs House of Representative who works with the PT school board to predict and influence Harrisburg. Mr. Dunbar has a Facebook site that citizens can use to encourage attention to PT school issues. 14. Hartman Model An analytical tool to predict future forecast based on statistics. 15. Health Care Cost The cost of providing health care for school district employees. Some critics maintain district employee cost sharing is too low compared to the private sector. 16. Historical Millage Rates The PT board has implemented a 3.6 millage increase in the last 8 years, or about 5%. 17. Kim Ward PTs Senate Representative. Ms. Wards Facebook site may not be the best way to interface with Ms. Ward. 18. Meeting Videos Videos of school board meetings available on the PT school district website. 19. Millage Equivalent The tax millage rate that produces the amount of dollars in a budget. 20. Mr. Harris School Superintend, Acting since Dr. Butler moved on. 21. Mr. Lago School district business manager. 22. Private Sector Not a school district employee, not a government employee. 23. Property Tax Assessments, or Assessments Taxes based upon the value of property providing income used to fund school budgets. 24. PSERS Pennsylvania School Employee Retirement System. Similar to SERS, State Employee Retirement System. Combined, the two are defined by PA state legislation, not controllable by school districts that must pay about 50% of its costs while the state picks up the other 50%. PSERS defines retirement benefits that are very attractive to school district employees, well beyond pension benefits available in the private sector. Rapidly increasing costs are one of the challenging issues facing a school district.

25. PSERS Benefits Depending upon the time of initial hire and years of service, recent retirements within PT have been 75% to 100% of salary at retirement. Issues in the PSERS law that make the PSERS benefit rate much more than the private section, and therefore taxpayer funding of PSERS a burden. 26. PSERS Cost The total cost of pensions covered by PA reimbursement and the school district. 27. PSERS Trap Any changes in PSERS/SERS requires action by Harrisburg legislators who receive SERS, and receive significant influence from state employees not to change their benefits. Local school districts have no input into PSERS costs except by staffing adjustments and employees moving into retirement. 28. Region A geographical area in PT that elects school board members to represent that region. 29. Reimbursement The amount of PSERS covered by PA State funding, normally about 50% of the total. The school district pays the rest using local property tax income. 30. Rightto-Work A state law that prohibits union security agreements, or agreements between labor unions and employers, that govern the extent to which an established union can require employees' membership, payment of union dues, or fees as a condition of employment. 31. School Board - Mrs. Ising, Dr. Tray, Dr. Koscho, Mr. Niemiec Mr. Petrucci, Mr. Kochasic, Mr. Newell, Mr. Stovar, Mr. Leonard. 32. School Board Elections School board members in Pennsylvania are elected officials. Members are elected for a four-year term, with the election process calling for five members being eligible for re-election during one election cycle and four being eligible in the next cycle. Typically in the PT school district, the successful candidate is determined in party primary elections held before the full election process. To run as a new candidate, a citizen must reside in a Region and submit a petition with a ten signatures. To vote in the primary, the citizen must be registered as a democrat or republican in advance of the primary election. 33. School Board Meetings The standard process for citizens to interface with the school board using a Roberts Rules of Order process. A citizen can ether attend these meetings and sign up to speak their minds, or write letters, both of which will be introduced into board meetings minutes. 34. Shortfall The budget deficit. 35. Subsidy - Basic Education Funding given to school district annually and defined by state budgets that varies. 36. Sunshine Act - A PA law requiring public agencies to hold certain meetings and hearings open
to the public. With request to school board meetings, it does not require all board activities to be open to the public. It require access and supply of available board information upon any citizens request, but does it require creation of information or material not already available.

37. Taj Mahal Act - PA Act 34 of 1973, commonly known as the Taj Mahal Act, requires public hearings on any major construction plans new buildings or significant renovations. 38. Teachers Salary The most significant part of the school budget. PA pays its teachers very well compared to other states. 39. Total Pay Package The entire package of pay, pensions, and health care provided by the school district to its employees. Critics maintain the total pay package is excessive.