The Bradford Area School Board passed the district’s $36 million
budget for the 2009-01 school year, with no tax increase, during
Tuesday’s monthly meeting.

Real estate taxes will continue to be levied at 21.52 mills, the
board announced. The district was also able to complete all capital
projects on budget.

“I think it’s a credit that we were able to get through another
year without raising real estate taxes,” board president Tim Bean
said.

The board noted that Pennsylvania has yet to pass its state
budget, so changes may still occur in the amount of funding
provided to the Bradford Area School District. If changes do occur,
the school district’s budget may be adjusted accordingly.

For now, the general fund budget stands at $35,961,022, with
expenditures of $35,544,488, and $1,583,466 in transfers. The
capital reserve budget has $2,140,532 in revenue, $972,964 of
expenditures and a projected fund balance of $1,980,698 for June
2010.

The board announced that Metz & Associates, which will began
providing meals to students next school year, has submitted the
projected 2009-10 food service budget.

The company guarantees an $80,000 profit. Student lunch prices
will increase by $.10 for the upcoming year.

In other business, board members Keith Hatch and Rita Dincher
were re-elected to their current positions of board secretary and
assistant secretary, respectively. The board also voted to keep a
resource police officer at Bradford Area High School for next
school year.

In other news, the board accepted the lone offer received, a bid
of $63,572 from Educational Systems Service Inc., to install a
30-student mobile digital language lab for the high school.

Business Manager Kathy Kelly explained that the cutting-edge
technology would allow students to speak French or Spanish directly
into a computer drive, after which a teacher could take it
elsewhere and review it. Students would also be able to take a
flash drive home and study with it.

Before the meeting concluded, Superintendent Sandra Romanowski
gave a summary of the school district’s accomplishments during the
past year.

Romanowski reported a district-wide 95 percent rate of student
attendance, along with just one expulsion and a graduation rate of
at least 93 percent. She also boasted of advancements in the
foreign language system, new textbooks, new courses, cutting-edge
technology additions, the elimination of student athletic fees and
more improvements.

“I think our students are in a better place than they were last
year,” Romanowski said.

Oschman becomes newest member of school board

Shane Oschman became the newest member of the Bradford Area
School Board during its monthly meeting Tuesday night.

The board voted 6-0 to allow Oschman to finish the term of the
Rev. J. Arthur Cox, who recently resigned. Oschman was the only
person to submit his name for consideration of the position, which
opened earlier than expected – Cox already had planned not to seek
re-election in November’s election.

Oschman had competed in May’s primary election, cross-filing
under both parties, where he earned enough votes to appear in
November’s general election on the Republican ticket but not the
Democratic ticket.

The board didn’t waste any time getting the newcomer acquainted
with his new position, as they allowed Oschman to take a seat with
the board after he was sworn in.

Oschman is a resident of Bradford Township and works at
Northwest Savings Bank on Main Street. He is the president of the
Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

Oschman has worked with students in the past during activities
as the Kiwanis Key Club, Kiwanis Kapers, and the annual Bradford
Area High School musical. He has also served on numerous other
boards in the area during the last three years.