Looking ahead to the 2013-14 term, the Parkland School Board approved salaries for the administrators who oversee district staff, students and facilities.

Central office personnel will receive a 2.50-percent increase, with salaries set at $160,746 for Superintendent Richard Sniscak; $141,834 for Assistant Superintendent Rodney Troutman; and $142,465 for Director of Business Administration John Vignone.

Other administrators throughout the district, designated the Act 93 Group, will receive compensation ranging from $132,922 for the director of student services and $127,126 for the assistant to the superintendent for operations, to $57,785 for the telecommunications specialist and $54,638 for a facilities' supervisor.

Salaries for school principals begin at $86,075 and top out at $120,950.

Teachers and support personnel are paid according to contract agreements.

At the June 18 meeting, the board awarded a $99,878 bid to Prism Response Inc. for removal of asbestos from Kratzer Elementary School.

Due to a mandate of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, school lunches will cost 10 cents more in the new school year.

Elementary children will pay $2.25, secondary $2.50, and adults $3.50. Individuals who qualify for reduced lunch will be charged 40 cents.

Approval was granted for the administration to apply for $40,448 in Title III funds for the English as a Second Language program.

The district spends $600,000 to provide ESL services for what officials describe as a significantly underfunded mandate.

The board signaled its approval for a Pennsylvania School Boards Association legislative proposal in reference to transportation of non-public and charter school students.

Presently, school districts are obligated to transport students en-rolled in private schools within a 10-mile radius of its boundary.

If the radius were reduced to 5 miles, the district would save $480,000.

The board voted to approve the law firm of Kegel, Kelin, Almy and Lord of Lancaster as special counsel in all matters relating to a dispute between the district and Parkland Community Library.

Sniscak said the budget includes an amount set aside for unexpected legal fees.

The library filed action June 13 against the district in Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas in response to Parkland's adjustment of the library tax from 0.3 mill to 0.1 mill.

Saying the school district had no authority to adjust the 0.3 rate set by referendum in 1998, the library filed the court action seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the school board from adjusting the millage.

The 0.1 mill library tax rate for 2013-14 was unanimously approved by the school board at its June 25 meeting.

Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michele Varricchio ruled June 19 the district was correct in cutting the rate from 0.3 mill to 0.1 mill.

Because of various changes occurring from the 2012 county reassessment, Parkland administrators adjusted the previous rate of 0.3 downward.

The same procedure was applied to the school district millage in which the 2012-13, 41.9 mill rate was converted to 13.35 mill because of the reassessment.

Although the millage rate is lower, the library will receive an increase in funding from $726,082 last year to $736,856 in 2013-14.

The owner of a $200,000 assessed property will pay $20 in library tax at the 0.1 mill rate.

If the 0.3 mill rate were retained, the library would receive $2.21 million in tax revenue from district residents, three times the amount collected last year.