WESTFALL, PA — A relatively short August 16 business meeting of the Delaware Valley School District (DV) School Board was followed by a lengthy board and audience debate about why four teaching positions were deleted in order to zero out any new taxes in the budget while elementary-school class-size projections show considerably more elementary  students.

Superintendent John Bell outlined projected class section sizes ranging from 24 to 29 students in 23 elementary grade sections at the three elementary schools and one primary school. “There is no money for extra teachers,” and while the sizes are not ideal, Bell said he did not understand “the buzz” about them, since the district has successfully dealt with these and larger sections in the past. “All the buildings had it before.” Kindergarten was his main concern, “because you don’t know if you’ll get 25 quiet kids or 25 wild kids.”

Parent Elizabeth Mallard was among some 20 parents who came for answers. She said the state’s average class size is 22.1.

Bell reported that DV classes average 25.2 students across 77, K-5 sections. He said there is no correlation between achievement and class size beyond a class size of 15. “We’re never going to get to 15,” he said. Bell said the numbers frequently change at the beginning of a school year, and he did not expect to have a hard number on enrollment until the week after Labor Day.

Board members John Wroblewski and Jessica Decker debated where extra money could be found. Decker recalled that the district frequently has “lots left over” at the end of the year, or the budget reserve could be used.

Wroblewski said tapping the already depleted $150,000 reserve would leave it at zero.

Business manager Bill Hessling killed the surplus discussion, announcing the district “for a lot of reasons” was not going to meet revenue expectations this year. “I’m hoping to cover expenses,” he said. No one commented.

Decker suggested that “with six votes” the board could dip into committed millions set aside for the state retirement PSERS fund.

“The PSERS obligation increases a lot every year. That’s why it’s committed,” Wroblewski said. “Be honest. This board decided, against administration recommendations, to come in with a zero. I stated then that it was not responsible, but that’s what happened.”

Board member Cory Homer said the board was not looking at these numbers in June (when the budget was finalized) and the zero-tax increase position was in concern for still-recovering businesses. “If we knew then… but we don’t have a crystal ball,” he said.

“Is that responsible?” Mallard asked. “It’s not responsible,” she said.

Bell said nine new teachers at $810,000 would be required to address every section with more than 25 students. He said if the current numbers don’t change, “They will have a big impact on next year’s budget.”

In the end, board and administration members implored parents to come to the lightly attended spring budget meetings when the board can address their concerns. The board also approved a new resolution to hire an additional teacher for the Shohola Elementary School. The cost of some $90,000 including salary and benefits was charged to the reserve fund. Bell also announced that he anticipated another $40,000 reserve charge to cover an extended absence of another teacher in the coming year.