BY PAT FARNELLI
Correspondent

To the great relief of the Elk Lake School Board and administration, some of the state funding held up for months by the budget impasse was received Tuesday, Jan. 5.

The district received more than $4.8 million, which Superintendent Ken Cuomo said will “allow us to operate our district for a while.”

“This is good news. We would have been forced to make some moves that will not be necessary now.”

He said that the funds will allow the administration and school board to address items on next month’s agenda, which will include the 2016 preliminary budget. Some of the funding was actually last year’s, Cuomo said.

Arden Tewksbury, board president, said the board discussed funds received from the state the previous day. It was determined that a tax anticipation note was no longer needed.

The Jan. 21 meeting was cancelled, and the Elk Lake school Board and Susquehanna County Career and Technology board will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

The school board did approve an Act 1 authorization to increase taxes no more than 3.2 percent, the district’s index as determined by the PA Department of Education, during the budget section of the agenda.

The resolution states that the board certifies that increasing any tax at a rate less than or equal to the index will be sufficient to balance its final budget of the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

The federal mileage rate, formerly 57.5 cents per mile, has decreased to $.54 effective Jan. 1.

High School principal Brian Mallery read the students of the month list, and noted that Rebecca Warholic was selected as Elk Lake’s Scholar of the Year.

Mallery said that Elk Lake’s Dual Enrollment program with Keystone College has been expanded by an additional 17 courses.

“The Community Foundation has provided $27,000 for our students’ dual enrollment fees, covering about 87 percent of the cost of dual enrollment this year,” he said.

Elementary principal Marc Weisgold said that the Santa Auction raised $2,700 for winter clothing and presents for needy student families.

Parent teacher conferences are scheduled for Feb. 12.

The board accepted a grant from the Community Foundation for $4,300, which will be used to purchase new risers for the auditorium.

The board granted permission to seek bids for a food service management company to oversee the school cafeterias. Cuomo explained that while the district may not actually decide to hire such a company, the state approved the district’s plan for this project earlier Wednesday, and “this is the first step, bidding out the management component of it.”

The district will be contacting at least five vendors from the state approved list, and requesting that they make proposals, he said.

Bids are also being requested for a wireless network for the school district, either for grades K-12 or perhaps two separate building wireless networks.

The Cabot Oil & Gas royalty payment for the month of December was $5525.06. The two school district gas wells brought in $1758.96 and $92.04 respectively, with the remainder of the royalty check coming from the neighboring Hunsinger, Grosvenor and Waldenberger wells.

Board member Anne Teel asked if the school board could be given a spreadsheet showing the royalty payment history, as had been the practice in previous school years.

She was told that such a chart could be prepared for future meetings.

Cuomo said that school district delays for low temperatures would be determined by consulting with weather reports out of Binghamton, N.Y. He said that if there is a wind chill advisory, there would be no delay for the start of school, but if there is a wind chill warning, there would be a delay.