By: David Hare

LANSDALE — At a meeting of the North Penn School Board on Thursday, president Vincent Sherpinsky announced administrative salaries for the 2010-11 school year will be frozen at current levels. The decision is in direct response to a dismal national economy and its impact on the school district and the state, Sherpinsky said.

“No one saw this coming this bad, this fast,” he said. “Frankly, it’s pretty scary.”

The salary freeze will save the school district about $300,000 next year, he added.

For the current school year, 60 administrators received raises totaling $6.4 million, according to school district records. Last year, raises totaled $6.2 million for 61 administrators.

At Thursday’s meeting, board member Joseph Walsh praised the administration for “sacrificing” salary increases “in these tough times.”

Sherpinsky concurred, saying, “these are difficult timers for all of us. We hope to communicate a positive message from this action.”

Still, with the recent news out of Harrisburg that the state’s 2008-09 budget deficit is likely to hit $1.9 billion by the end of the fiscal year June 30, Sherpinsky made no attempt to soften the impact.

“There are no sacred cows here. Everything and anything needs to be put on the table for discussion so we can take a hard look at balancing our costs,” he said. “This goes from the bottom to the top. I don’t care who you are, you could be effected.”

This weighing of “cost versus value,” he said, will likely result in “cutting back, eliminating or postponing” expenditures on school programs, jobs, or both.

In about two weeks all 501 school districts in Pennsylvania should know how much money they can expect next year from the state. Sherpinsky said he was praying North Penn’s cut is “in the black.”

“Even if what we get from the state is flat or the same as last year, we’re still in trouble,” he said.