There was no update on the proposed 2012-2013 district budget at Monday's meeting of the Nazareth Area School Board. Do not expect one at next week's meeting, either.

The administration will present its next budget proposal at a committee meeting on April 24 -- the day after the next meeting of the district school board -- then make a formal presentation to the public at the school board meeting on May 14, district Superintendent Victor Lesky said on Monday.

Final approval of the budget is scheduled for May 21, Lesky said. By law, the school board must approve the budget by June 30. It will be in effect from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013.

As it stands now, the $69.2 million budget calls for a 2 percent property tax increase, as well as taking $153,000 from the district's fund balance -- roughly similar to a savings account for a private individual. School board members have called on the administration to find ways to cut the budget further, to lower or reduce the proposed tax hike.

The specter of potential staff layoffs or furloughs hangs over the budget process, as it has since the school board in January directed Lesky to send letters to the unions that represent the district's teachers and custodial workers, asking for a wage freeze of other concessions.