With co-chair Joel Fishbein presiding, Financial Affairs convened in a Zoom seminar room on Tuesday, March 2, which allowed the public to view the meeting and submit questions about the presentation in real-time. The meeting started with Mr. Linderman reviewing the 2020-2021 budget. He then presented charter school costs and proposed charter school budget for 2021-2022. The charter school budget was presented at between $3.2M and just under a projected $7M, depending on enrollment. If charter school enrollments continue to increase, the budget would need to be higher than the current costs. A lengthy discussion occurred among the board members with some wanting to keep the budget at the current $1.4M. Mr. Linderman indicated that budgeting less than the current enrollment would be fiscally irresponsible. The board agreed to discuss further at future meetings, but for the time being, Mr. Linderman would budget for charter schools, assuming stagnant enrollment.

Mr. Linderman reviewed more data analytics from Forecast5 for staffing, special education and spending. The board asked for more data for next month’s meeting.

Finally, Mr. Linderman reviewed the proposed 2021-2022 budget and the need to file for referendum exceptions. The current budget stands at a $5.5 million gap between revenues and expenditures. The board asked for areas to reduce, and Mr. Linderman and Dr. Marseille reviewed the need to start reducing staff, especially in light of the budget situation and the fact that Cheltenham has the lowest student/teacher ratio of almost all Delaware Valley schools.

The next Financial Affairs committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 6.