New Kensington-Arnold School Board voted Tuesday to lay off 28 teachers because the district said research projects up to 600 students won’t be returning to its schools in the fall.

Even with the layoffs and a 3-mill tax increase, also approved Tuesday, the district plans to spend $1.1 million more than it brings in next year. The board said it will cover the deficit with reserves, depleting that account to about $300,000.

Superintendent John Pallone said most of the layoffs are based on preliminary results of a survey of district families, showing that 550 to 600 of the district’s nearly 1,950 students won’t come back to its buildings in the fall. Survey respondents who said their children would not be returning to school in person expressed concern about the coronavirus pandemic, he said.

The teachers union had about 155 members this school year.

“We don’t know what the student population or student census will be when school starts in the fall. We don’t know what faculty we’re going to need in terms of the staff,” Pallone said during Tuesday’s virtual school board meeting. “We have to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”

Pallone said only about 25% of district families have responded to the survey, which is posted on the district’s website. Those families account for almost 800 students.

Pallone urged parents and guardians who haven’t completed the survey to do so, saying it could help save teachers’ jobs.

“We’re trying to be as reasonable and fair as we possibly can,” he said. “We will call back as many of the faculty as we possibly can.”

In addition to the layoffs, the school board approved eliminating five positions: music, secondary English, elementary librarian, math specialist and reading specialist.

Pallone said the music position is not needed; a secondary English teacher retired and that position does not need to be filled; and teachers can cover the duties of the librarian at Hunt Elementary, and the librarian can move to another position. Pallone said the math and reading specialists were cut because of reductions in the funding that paid for them.

One kindergarten class and one sixth-grade class also are being eliminated. A sixth-grade teacher retired, and the class coming up is smaller.

The school board also eliminated two half-day preschool classes, which are being replaced with a new full-day transitional kindergarten. The new kindergarten is for children not ready or prepared for regular kindergarten.

The school board approved offering an early-retirement incentive, for which employees who were 60 by Dec. 31, 2020, are eligible. The deadline to take it is 4 p.m. July 30.

The incentive includes payment for unused sick days and health insurance coverage for up to five years, Pallone said.

“We have a few that may be inclined to do it,” he said.

The school board also approved two retirements Tuesday — Clara Ballard, a special education teacher, effective June 5; and Audrey Sleigh, secretary of the school board and to the superintendent, effective Nov. 6.

The board adopted a $39 million budget for the 2020-21 school year that includes a 3-mill, or 3.5%, tax increase.

The increase puts the district’s property tax rate at 88.27 mills. For a home with a $20,000 assessed value, the annual school tax bill will increase by $60 to about $1,765.

The district’s revenue for 2020-21 is projected to be about $37.9 million. The $1.1 million shortfall will be covered from the district’s reserves.

In May, district business Manager Jeff McVey said the district will end the 2019-20 school year with about $1.4 million in reserve. The $1.1 million shortfall expected in 2020-21 will reduce the district’s reserves to about $300,000.

The erosion of the district’s reserve has some school board members and administrators concerned about the 2021-22 school year and that the district is heading for a state takeover.

The school board approved the budget unanimously. However, three members — Scott Bussard, Eric Doutt and Robert Pallone — voted against the tax rate.

Board members John Cope, John DeAntonio and Steven Sorch voted against the layoffs.

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