Nazareth's Support Staff Union Willing to Discuss Pay Freeze

One of two unions the Nazareth Area Board of Education plans to ask for a pay freeze to ease the district's financial woes has asked to sit down with district officials.

Representatives from the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents the district's custodians and other members of its support staff, replied to a letter from the school board to say they want to discuss the issue, according to Superintendent Victor Lesky.

“They said they would like to sit down and talk about details,” Lesky said at Monday night's meeting.

No one from the Nazareth Area Education Association, which represents the district's teachers, had responded to the letter as of Monday.

The board had directed Lesky to send the letters, which broach the possibility of a pay freeze or other accommodation to help in the district's proposed budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year, Lesky said. The letters went out around Jan. 10.

The potential pay freezes would help reduce the amount the district needs to take from its fund balance -- roughly equivalent to a savings account for a private individual -- to balance its 2012-13 budget.

The board last week gave preliminary approval to the budget, which calls for a 2 percent property tax increase -- the maximum allowed by state law, thanks to a formula that caps tax increases school boards can levy.

That still leaves the district with a $551,000 deficit to make up between projected revenues and expenditures. The preliminary budget projects that money will be taken from the district's fund balance, but Lesky said Monday the board and administration will pursue other ways to close the gap before the budget receives final approval in June.

One unknown in the mix is how much state funding the district will receive, once the state's preliminary budget proposal is released next month.

Lesky cautioned board members not to get their hopes up, though. He said he recently spent time in Harrisburg and, based on that trip, does not expect any increase in state education funding.

The question of potential layoffs hangs in the air as tense relations between the teachers union and district officials continue. The preliminary budget does not call for any staff increases, but it leaves open the possibility of staff reductions.

During the 2011-12 budget process, 27 administrators offered to lower their pay raises to 1.7 percent from 3.75 percent. Administrators , but only if other employees followed suit. Neither union responded to the board's request to accept a zero percent pay raise.

Lesky said Monday he and other administrators have discussed options to reduce expenses at each of the district's schools.