Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Board closes 5 schools, lays off 231 employees, raises taxes for first time in nearly a decade!
By the slimmest of margins, the Reading SchoolBoard passed a 2012-13 budget Wednesday night that includes more than 200 layoffs, the closing of five schools and the district’s first tax increase in nearly a decade.The $220.5 million spending plan, as well as a 2.8 percent property tax increase, passed by a vote of 5-4.
The vote brought to an end an extremely difficult budget process, which saw the board and administrators try to close a more than $40 million gap in the budget. In the end, the gap was closed to just over $14 million, which will be filled with a large portion of the district’s reserve funds.
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