They called it the “Atomic Bomb.”
It was the Bristol Township school board's worst-case scenario; a preliminary budget, approved Monday, that would cut 91 jobs from the district.
The cuts were due in part to Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed budget, which drastically slashed education funding and left Bristol schools with a loss of more than $3 million in state funding and grants.
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In addition to the furloughed employees, the budget cut into full-day kindergarten and advanced placement courses.
Infuriated students, concerned parents, and fearful teachers met at the budget meeting Thursday, looking for answers from the school board.
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“This affects what we want to do in the future -- what schools we can get into,” Truman High School student Dina Abdel-Rahman said. “You are supposed to be backing us up. You are now just holding us back."
Abdel-Rahman's voice cracked as she began to cry through her words.
“This is completely wrong. You should all feel horrible about yourselves. You are slowly snatching away our voices," Abdel-Rahman said.
In an effort to save as many jobs as possible, the school board has reached out to the teachers' unions to agree to a pay freeze.
If Bristol teachers agree to the freeze, the number of furloughed jobs could drop from 91 to 62.
Despite the financial woes, the school board has decided against including a tax increase in its budget.
“I think we should increase taxes -- poll the public -- this is an investment in our children's future,” Bristol Township teacher Carol Beckman said.
The school board is reluctant to raise property taxes in order to pay for some of its budget's shortcomings. The board is fearful that in a township with a nine percent unemployment rate and over 130 vacant homes, a spike in taxes could lead to even more people fleeing the region.
“Before we ask our taxpayers to pay more in such hard-times, we should exhaust every, absolutely every, possible option,” board member Earl Bruck said.
The school district said they are pursuing every available option to gain extra revenue. Even so, doors have closed and their options become slimmer by the day. Companies that the school district had sponsorships with in the past, like Pepsi Co, have showed disinterest in re-upping for new contracts. Even more so, federal grants and funding are becoming harder to obtain.
“No person on this board wants (the funding cuts). This is the hand we were dealt,” Bruck said. “This wasn't us. This was the Republicans in Harrisburg who simply don't care about this township.”
