TAMAQUA - President Larry Wittig spelled it out for the many residents and parents at Tuesday night's Tamaqua Area school board meeting - the district has a budget deficit of $830,000 and must make some hard decisions.
"We're kicking the can down the road and we don't have an answer," Wittig said while showing a chart outlining the district's contributions to the state retirement fund that rise from $940,000 in 2013 to $4 million 10 years later. "If Tamaqua is in trouble, several other districts will also be in trouble.
"It can be and is unsustainable," he said. "If we raise taxes to the max, we couldn't keep up with it."
The imbalance in the pension requirements defines Tamaqua Area's budget troubles, which forced the school board to cut three sports programs - golf, tennis and cheerleading - on Tuesday.
Angry parents responded with plenty of comments regarding the proposed cuts in the 2012-13 budget.
Phil and Lucy Gerace have a son, Julian, who is a senior at Tamaqua Area and is afraid the music and voice programs will be eliminated.
"Special programs kept me in school. Music class, I really liked it," Julian said to the board, noting he plans to attend Drexel University and study audio engineering in the fall.
Wittig assured Gerace that the music and voice programs will not be on the chopping block, drawing applause from the crowd.
A proposal to eliminate two bus routes for children who live 1 1/2 miles from Tamaqua Area Elementary School would save about $80,000. The problem with the plan, according to parents, is that small children would be forced to navigate Lehigh Street, cross dangerous intersections and walk where there are no sidewalks.
"Will you please walk that route, walk up Lehigh Street, walk in their shoes?" Lucy Gerace said. "They're pinching pennies while young children will be forced to face traffic woes ... ."
Most of the parents and taxpayers who spoke at the meeting asked the school board to consider cutting in other areas to bridge the budget deficit. Some suggested raising the price of football tickets.
The lengthy school board meeting was interrupted by an executive session during which the board talked in private. When members returned, they could not muster a second on the motion to eliminate busing within the 1 1/2-mile radius, and the issue died with no further action.
That also meant that a recommendation to discontinue busing to day cares within that radius - a service that is not reimbursed by the state - also failed.
The board will continue to try to trim the budget and a meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 8. Final adoption is set for June 19.
After eliminating the three sports programs, the board rescinded its appointment of Joshua Shilko as head golf coach for the 2012-13 school year. Meanwhile, James McCabe submitted his resignation as head wrestling coach and the board accepted it.
Six coaches were appointed by the board for 2012-13: Casmir Kosciolek, Nesquehoning, head boys' basketball coach; Joseph Dietz, Lehighton, junior varsity boys' basketball coach; Michael Murphy, freshmen boys' basketball coach; Brad Hurley, Jim Thorpe, eighth-grade boys' basketball coach; Joseph Berezwick, Tamaqua, head girls' basketball and eighth-grade girls' coach, and Ashley Stanek, head swimming coach.
The board also appointed Louise A. Pilla, Nesquehoning, and Christine Kostecky, Tamaqua, as substitute health room assistants.
The board removed three others from positions for not submitting necessary documents. They are Dr. Peter Baddick, Tamaqua, adult game worker; Cody Brode, Tamaqua, volunteer assistant track and field coach, and Eammon Farley, Norristown, volunteer assistant swimming coach.