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LEHMAN TWP. — The Lake-Lehman School Board on Monday discussed how future education-related decisions made by state and federal officialscould affect the district.

At the beginning of the meeting, Superintendent James McGovern took a moment to address attendees aboutPresident Donald Trump’s appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.

McGovern said he has received calls in recent weeks asking his opinion on the matter, and what he thinks it would mean for public school districts.

“The problems of Lake-Lehman are unique to Lake-Lehman,” he said. “There is no one individual out there that is going to be able to either help us or hinder us from accomplishing what our goals are.”

He went on to say that no matter what DeVos’s intentions are, they would not stop Lake-Lehman from trying to be the best district and prepare its students for success outside the classroom.

“With that being said, the only way to combat what people perceive as direct threat to public education is to be the very best school that we could possibly be,” he said.

DeVos has spent more than two decades promoting charter schools across the country. Her nomination has come under fierce criticism from labor unions, who accuse her of seeking to dismantle public education, according to the Associated Press.

Another topic of discussion at the meeting was the upcoming state budget, and possible changes in the formula it uses to fund districts.

The discussion came after a series of audit reports that were presented to board members by Tom Rainey, of Rainey and Rainey Accounting. Though he told the board that all audits were clean, the report led members to ask district business manager Thomas Melone what would happen if the state altered its formula for school funding, particularly in the area of a transportation subsidy.

Currently, Melone said, the district receives about $1.5 million — about 80 percent of its transportation funding — from the state. However, if the formula were to change to the projected decrease of less than 50 percent, Lake-Lehman would instead receive roughly $750,000.

Another point Melone brought up was that the budget as presented includes property tax millage reflecting current school funding formulas, but proposed bills to cut taxes could severely impact the budget if passed.

“We all know there’s been various discussions on the elimination of property tax, some of those as quick as the 2017-18 year,” he said.

The issues cause concern for McGovern, who said these types of changes could have a drastic effect on rural areas and their schools, including Lake-Lehman.

In other news, board member and West Side Career and Technical Center representative David Paulauskas said the CTC announced the school’s Titan of the Month, who happened to be a Lake-Lehman student. Senior Jocelyn Parsons was nominated by her art teacher for her excellent academic, community and leadership skills, he said.

Board members also made the following votes and announcements:

• The Foundation is holding a bowl-a-thon fundraiser at Back Mountain Bowl on Feb. 26. Participation fees for teams of four are $60 for adults and $40 for students; they include bowling shoe rental, pizza and soda.

• Dwayne Kalinay was hired as junior high track and field coach at a salary of $2,744.52.

• Christopher Kukosky was hired as head boys volleyball coach at a salary of $4,405.03.

• Makeup snow days will be on June 2, and June 5-7. McGovern said there are still two built-in snow days left on the school calendar.

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By Marcella Kester

for Times Leader

Reach the Times Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242 or on Twitter @TLnews.