NBC Board Increases Real Estate Taxes by 3.2 Percent

The Northern Bedford County School Board met Tuesday, June 18, with the major item on the agenda passage of the 2019-20 budget.

According to the approved budget, NBC will be enacting a tax increase of 3.2 percent for the upcoming year. The tax levy for the upcoming year is projected to be collected at a 94 percent rate and will be an assessment of no less than $8.5759 per thousand dollars of a property’s assessed value.

This will give the school an anticipated tax revenue of $2,938,826. This amount will be used to cover the school’s deficit of $433,216 for the 2019-20 school year.

It was noted that nearly $65,000 of the existing deficit is attributed to the costs of “cyber” school and special education costs, which the school district is required to cover.

Superintendent Todd Beatty expressed his desire for Northern Bedford committee members to “contact their state politicians and express concern over these costs that school districts have little to no control over.”

The 2019-20 budget was approved by a 5-3 vote. Those who opposed this budget included boardmembers John Eshelman, David Potchak and Tammy Reasy.

The full and complete budget is available on Northern Bedford County School District’s website, http://www.nbcsd.org.

Personnel Changes

Several personnel changes were made for the 2019-20 school year including the transfer of Coryn Snyder from middle school/high school art teacher to elementary art. Juliann Ricklo was approved as the middle/high school art teacher. Randy Meck and Hannah Miller were approved as elementary teachers. Christa Albright was also approved for a position as K-4 teacher.

Resignations were approved from Jonas Bequeath, the former assistant coach for junior high co-ed soccer, and Tyler Hrivnack, the former elementary custodian.

House Bill 1600

Superintendent Beatty presented the board with information on a state legislative bill known as House Bill 1600. This bill was introduced at the state legislature on June 11 by State Rep. Aaron Bernstein. This bill includes measures to create separate playoff brackets for public and nonpublic schools. The current transfer rule would be eliminated as a result of this bill meaning students who transfer can play immediately at their new school as long as they meet all eligibility standards.

Under this bill a forfeiture protection will be enacted, making teams ineligible for PIAA playoffs if two or more regular-season games are forfeited in one season. A team sports expansion clause will be adopted along with this bill stating that separate playoff brackets should be used for sports in which there are at least 50 public and nonpublic schools participating. And if passed this bill will increase the fairness of governance by the PIAA’s District Committees.

Superintendent Beatty expressed his disapproval of this bill as it “raises some concerns.” This is a sentiment that is shared by others including Dr. Robert Lombardi, the executive director of PIAA.

In the elementary school three students were awarded perfect attendance awards: Ben Clark, Ashlynn Detwiler and Jackson Miller. Two other elementary students were recognized for outstanding attendance: Carter Love and Isaiah Steele.