Perk Valley Administrators Agree to Wage Freeze

The Perkiomen Valley School Board voted Monday to approve a wage and benefits freeze for district administrators during the 2013-2014 school year, .

At the request of the school board, administrators agreed to decline their annual performance-based pay raises, which would have been roughly 2 percent for this school year as it was working to close a $6 million shortfall in the proposed budget.

“We thank the administration for thinking beyond their own needs to those of our students, and for working together with us to address the budgetary challenges we race as a district,” said school board president Lori Snyder.

Administrators belonging to the district’s Act 93 group, including principals, assistant principals, district-level supervisors, directors and managers, are impacted, and the superintendent, assistant superindependent, business administrator and human resources director, who are not part of the Act 93 group, also agreed to the freeze.

“As we continued to find ways to reduce the gap between expenditures and revenues, this savings is realty appreciated,” said Snyder. “Employee salaries and benefits make up the bulk of our expenses as a school district. When we are able to negotiate changes with our employee groups to reduce these expenses, we have more flexibility as we plan for the future and are better able to balance the needs of our students with the needs of our taxpayers.”