Reading School Board Votes on $95K Travel, Bus Manager Deal

The Reading School District's Board of School Directors votes tonight, Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at 7 p.m. on raising its own travel budget to $95,000, more than seven times the $12,733.88 budgeted for board travel this year. The agenda also carries the TransPar transportation-management contract we previewed last week, a five-year contract for Assistant Superintendent of Operations April Rostek, the acting chief financial officer's resignation and $5.08 million in construction bills.

This is the Reading School District, the public school system, not the City of Reading government; the two have separate boards and budgets.

A $95,000 travel budget, voted on in two parts

Item 6.6 has two parts. Part A authorizes "the transfer of unencumbered funds to the Board travel budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year to increase the amount to $95,000." Unencumbered funds are budgeted dollars not yet spent or committed; an encumbrance is money set aside for an order already placed. The motion does not name the budget line the money would come from. Part B puts a $95,000 "Board travel and conference allocation" into the proposed 2027-28 budget "from a total Board budget that will be in excess of $810,000," for "budget-planning purposes" and not as approval of any particular trip.

The motion cites 24 P.S. § 6-687(d), a section of the state Public School Code that lets a school board move any unencumbered balance from one budget item to another, but "only during the last nine (9) months of the fiscal year." The district's budget year ends June 30, so that window opened October 1.

In the district's budget detail, the 2026-27 board travel account was budgeted at $12,733.88. As of October 26 it had $288.02 in expenses and $75,582.00 in encumbrances, a balance of negative $63,136.14. In 2025-26 the board spent $39,308.14, unaudited, against a $12,127.50 budget. The sheet's 2027-28 column shows $95,000 for travel, marked "Board requested amount," in an $881,197.84 board budget; a footnote instead reaches $810,171.45 by adding $82,873 to the original 2025-26 budget of $727,298.45.

A second attachment, labeled "as discussed at 10/21/26 COW meeting," prices three conferences for all nine board members at $80,754.84: $14,256.00 for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association conference October 17-19, 2027; $30,411.00 for a COSSBA conference March 12-14, 2027; and $36,087.84 for an NSBA conference the sheet dates April 10-12, 2026, and assigns to fiscal year 2026. Neither attachment says why the board wants the increase; the budget sheet labels the $95,000 only as the "Board requested amount." The $75,582.00 already encumbered is not itemized and matches no combination of the three priced conferences.

As Spotlight PA first reported on October 27, members ran up more than $93,000 in conference costs over the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, a majority took more than two out-of-state trips in a school year, the limit in state law and district policy, and the board's attorney told them of that limit in April. It also reported that President Noahleen Betts proposed raising the budget to as much as $100,000 and said October 21 that the board had only recently learned of its travel budget and trip limit.

The TransPar contract, unchanged from last week

Item 7.3 approves the agreement with TransPar Group, Inc. "for transportation management services through June 30, 2030." The posted contract, the same document attached to last week's committee agenda and dated as of Sept. 3, 2026, runs July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2030. Exhibit E sets the Base Year One management rate at $694,544.51 a year, or $57,878.71 a month, which "includes all operating expenses" but not a temporary back-to-school call center priced at $10,000 for four weeks or $20,000 for eight. From July 1, 2028, the monthly rate rises 3.0 percent or the Consumer Price Index each year, "whichever is greater." At the 3 percent minimum, the three years come to about $2.15 million by our arithmetic.

The contract renews on its own unless one side gives 120 days' notice, either side can end it without cause on 180 days' notice, and the district owes a finder's fee of 20 percent of 12 months' pay if it hires any TransPar employee working on the contract during its term or within a year after it ends. Exhibit B names the five staff TransPar supplies, led by general manager Ken Chase. Section 6(c) refers to an early-termination fee schedule in Exhibit E; the posted Exhibit E contains none.

A five-year contract for Dr. Rostek, and revised minutes

Item 13.1 approves the contract for Dr. April Halligan-Rostek as Assistant Superintendent of Operations: five years, September 23, 2026, through September 22, 2031, at a base salary of $185,000. Each July 1 she gets a raise equal to that year's Act 1 index, the state's yearly cap on school property-tax increases, with a floor of 3 percent and a ceiling of 4 percent, plus any merit raise the board chooses. The district pays 6 percent of salary into a 403(b) retirement plan and reimburses graduate tuition up to $1,200 a credit for nine credits a year. She gets 25 vacation days a year and may carry over earlier district vacation up to a 35-day total through June 30, 2027.

The board appointed her on September 23 on a floor-added motion, 5-3, with Betts, Paige Brookins and Jonathan Tinoco voting no. Item 4.1 approves a different version of those minutes. Compared with the minutes first posted, the version attached tonight adds "of Operations" to her title in both motions and removes several records: that Dr. Mumin "joined the meeting via phone" and "left the meeting at 7:59"; the line that he nominated her "along with the wishes of the Board"; solicitor John Miravich's remark that the step "does not need to be a resolution"; the line "There were no public comments"; the substance of all five committee reports; and the adjournment motion, voice vote and 8:28 p.m. adjournment time. It also folds the two separate 5-3 roll calls on items 13.14 and 13.15 into a single roll call while adding the sentence "The Board voted on 13.14 and 13.15 seperately." The original runs 74 pages; the attached version 73, among other changes. The agenda does not explain them.

An acting CFO leaves; security guard jobs added

Item 13.3 accepts 18 resignations, including Stephanie Hackash, Acting Chief Financial Officer/Assistant Business Manager, effective November 30, 2026. The others are five teachers, two cafeteria workers, two ESL assistants, two school security guards, a school counselor, a social worker, a custodian, an enrollment clerk, a pre-K assistant and a restorative practices facilitator.

Item 13.11 creates seven 10-month and one 12-month school security guard positions and two 12-month Lead Safe School Officer positions. It eliminates two life-skills classroom assistant jobs at Northeast Middle School and five one-on-one paraprofessional positions, and adds five autistic-support one-on-one paraprofessionals and two learning-support classroom assistants at the Reading High School Innovation Academy.

Solar, IT, bills and the rest

Item 7.5 is the resolution seeking a $917,000 Solar for Schools grant for Glenside Elementary; our October 21 preview explains why that is $17,000 above the program's stated cap. Item 7.2 approves an IT-services agreement with Nymbol IT Solutions, Inc. through June 30, 2032, "at the rates set forth in the attached"; the attachment prints no rates.

Item 6.3 approves $5,079,576.85 in October construction payments, led by $785,164.54 to Lobar, Inc. on the "12M Add & Renos" project, $434,479.66 and $285,216.50 to Weatherproofing Technologies for the Glenside and Reading High roofs, $420,687.00 to Uhrig Construction on the Reading High oil tank room and $340,461.46 to Five Star Inc. for Reading High HVAC. Two lines, $92,768.75 to Hord Coplan Macht and $79,000 to Geo-Technology Associates, are for the "New Riverside ES"; WFMZ reported that the city's Planning Commission reviewed a sketch plan Tuesday for a three-story, 58,886-square-foot school with a 156-space garage at 1400 Centre Avenue, replacing the current building. Item 6.1 ratifies September bills of $21,440,615.47, nearly all of it General Fund.

Also: $315,938.00 of weight-room equipment from Webster Fitness through COSTARS, the state's cooperative purchasing program (9.1); raising a Northstar Education Advisors consulting contract from $610,000 to $716,000 in state funds (8.32); a three-year Gage Personnel student-employment deal not to exceed $258,000 (8.2); a Kautter & Kelley predesign assessment of Thomas Ford Elementary not to exceed $72,065 (12.7); a $252,713 playground at 13th and Union Elementary (12.17); a $166,428 CM3 building-automation renewal (12.12); and a PSBA compensation study not to exceed $8,200 (7.1). Policy 204.1, Virtual Instruction Program Wellness Checks, gets a first reading (7.4). CM3 and building-trades union leaders give presentations, and item 1.7 announces an executive session on personnel and legal matters held after last week's committee meeting.

For how school spending reaches tax bills, see our guide to Berks County property tax explained.

How to attend or comment

The meeting is at the Administration Building, 800 Washington St., Reading, per the district's Keystone page. To speak, sign up with the Board Secretary before 7 p.m.; each speaker gets three minutes. Meetings stream on YouTube at @RedKnightTV, per its Keystone page. The agenda gives the next meeting as Wednesday, November 18, at 6 p.m.

We will post a recap once minutes or video are available.