Schools

Centennial Dissolves Alternative Revenue Committee

The school board voted to discontinue the ad hoc committee that searched for new revenue streams outside the traditional tax sources.

One of the first actions of the new Centennial School Board during its meeting Tuesday night turned down school director Mark Miller's motion to continue the ad hoc Alternative Revenue Committee.

"We're looking at a 2012-2013 budget with expenses coming iin over $100 million for the first time," said Miller after the 4-5 vote defeated his motion. "I think we should be looking for money everywhere we can."

School board President Dr. Andrew Pollock felt the efforts of the alternative revenue committee could be carried out by the district's finance committee.

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"Those who voted against it did not feel it was necessary to have a separate committee," said Dr. Pollock.

Miller made the case to continue the ad hoc committee's mission during the Oct. 25 school board meeting with a power point presentation that highlighted several areas where Centennial could earn extra funding. Examples include $100,000 naming rights for the planetarium, advertising opportunities in the new stadium ad at school events, such as September's of the high school and retail partnerships with stores such as .

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Following the presentation, Miller requested an extension of six months for the committee so that it could keep its momentum going. That suggestion was shot down and replaced with Dr. Pollock's motion to extend the committee to the first meeting of the newly elected school board.

"I did not want to bind the new board members to an agreement that extended that far into next year," Dr. Pollock said last night.

Reading the comments from the Oct. 25 minutes, Miller appeared to have the support of boardmembers Michael Hartline, Kati Driban and Cynthia Mueller, with Thomas Hezel on the fence. Mueller was especially concerned that the lack of a committee dedicated to raising that money would cause the efforts to fall to the wayside.

Mueller and Hezel opted not to run for re-election and have been replaced by David Shafter and Chuck Kleinschmidt, respectively. Shafter voted to keep the committee, while Kleinschmidt joined Dr. Pollock, Jane Schrader Lynch, Betty Huf and fellow new boardmember Steve Adams in the vote against.

The timing for the vote was particularly dissonant considering that earlier in the day, Centennial business manager Christopher Berdnik participated in a webcast presentation on alternative revenue, hosted by the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. His slideshow highlighted some harsh realities that most school budgets are facing in the near future.

First and foremost, the contribution requirements for the state pension fund, PSERS, coupled with increased healthcare costs has most school districts facing huge budget shortfalls by 2015 that cannot be overcome by tax revenue. Berdnik also highlighted stagnant wages, high unemployment and federal and state funding cuts to paint a bleak picture that can be helped with alternative revenue.

David Nester, business manager for Pottsgrove School District, and Matthew Malinwoski, director of business affairs for Cheltenham School District, made the case for establishing alternative revenue committees to seek out corporate sponsorships and apply for grants.

For Centennial School District, those duties now fall on the entire finance committee.


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