Schools

Four Republicans will face an equal number of Democrats in November for four open seats on the North Penn School Board.   The Republicans are incumbents Vince Sherpinsky, Tim Kerr, Frank O'Donnell and former School Board Member Josie Charnock.   The Democratic slate includes Tina Stoll, Murali Balaji, Alex Ryaban and Paul Edelman, Junior.   Both sets of candidates crossfiled on both the Republican and Democratic tickets and each won their respective primaries.

The North Penn School Board has approved a proposed final budget for the next school year.   The spending plan totals almost $215,000,000 and includes a 1.7% property tax hike.   That translates into about $55 for the average homeowner.   District officials say the increase will ensure continuity of their educational program for the next year.   The school board will take final action on the budget June 20th.

There won't be any charter schools in the North Penn School District anytime soon.   The school board Thursday night rejected for a second time the application from Education for New Generations.   It called for serving 220 students kindergarten through grade five in a facility on Commerce Drive in Montgomeryville.   Before the vote, the attorney representing Education for New Generations told the school board the revised application addressed the issues cited when the charter was initially rejected in February.   The charter school organizers can file an appeal of the denial with the state department of education or they can resubmit the application a third time.

The North Penn School Board is taking stock of the district.   Tuesday night it received a comprehensive report on more than two dozen indicators that point toward future trends.   Among them are steady enrollment in the elementary schools as well as increases in employee retention.   The district website has had more than 660,000 hits since the start fo the school year.   Twitter and You Tube activity are up too.   The aggregate market value of real estate per student is slightly above the county average while personal income per child is south of the median point.   Those two indicators are important because Harrisburg uses them to determine how much state aid the district will get.