Hampton Twp SD/School Board Information

06/05/2026

Our annual happy "two less than half days at the end of school" post. Maybe our new superintendent will reconsider the positioning on these extra days? We can hope. Have a great summer Hamptonians!

05/08/2026

May 4th meeting notes

Proposed property tax increase of 3.47%, to 24.75 mills, the maximum allowable amount without special request from the state. Board voted to approve preliminary budget, but noted this is not a final vote- just a requirement to say that this is the likely plan, but can change. Final vote at the June meeting. Mr. Vasko said he won’t vote for it as it stands.

Of note for the budget:

Consumables are up 17K from 160k to 177k. This accounts for increases in supplies for janitorial supplies, pool supplies, medical, athletics and industrial arts. Decreases noted for art supplies, paper supplies, and science supplies.

Athletics budget up over 5%, to fund the 2 new girls sports, and also new uniforms for baseball, softball, tennis and volleyball.

Technology budget increase of over 5%, the district financed many upgrades to staff and student devices and between 2024-29, and will pay over $66,000 in interest during that time.

Health insurance for teachers via the county consortium is up over 8%. Beattie funding decreased from prior years. Special education costs increasing over 9%. Utilities budget up 29% due to expiring contracts that had locked in previously lower rates. Salaries increasing 1.92% on average, this reflects retirements that are not being replaced, and moving substitute teacher payments to contracted services.

Includes $200,000 towards safety and security enhancements.

Final budget link

https://go.boarddocs.com/pa/hamp/Board.nsf/files/DTLMDW5ACC4C/$file/2026-27%20Proposed%20Final%20Budget%20-%20May-4-2026.pdf

Mr. Gavlik requested approval to move girls flag football and girls wrestling from club sports to be formally adopted and funded by the district. Many questions asked about costs, cost per student for each sport, revenue brought in, and if there were existing funded sports that don’t have much participation that could be dialed down to a club sport or removed entirely. The discussion snowballed quite a bit, and general upkeep on existing athletic facilities was questioned. The turf field is at the end of its warranty, originally costing a half million dollars. Mr. Vasko noted that they don’t often discuss timelines, that they just find out things are needed and have to come up with the money or borrow it. He suggested they consider more advance planning for funding larger projects- saving for what they want/need. It was also mentioned that they’ve never really audited the athletic budget as closely as other areas. Mrs. Hamlin mentioned how many of the things coming up now were to be addressed in phase 2 HS renovations (fieldhouse upgrades, softball field, etc), but they’re unable to borrow money for that phase based on the current financial situation.

Revision of school calendar- moved a professional development day from April to Easter Monday, March 29th. Thanks are given when thanks are due- thank you to the board for hearing the teachers’ and the parents input on this. Mrs. Perkins reminded everyone that the week spring break isn’t necessarily supported by the board, but the timing of Easter in 2027 worked out. They remain nervous that students would potentially have to “settle in” quickly after a later Easter before PSSAs (our note: North Allegheny came back from their spring break this year with only one week of school before PSSAs, maybe we compare our results and theirs to see if kids truly were affected by having a week off in April before testing?).

Discussion of continuing the elementary instructional coach. Position was funded by grants last year and tasked with helping integrate portrait of a talbot competencies (empathy, collaboration, etc) into classrooms. Teachers can request help, or the coach can request to meet with the teacher. Elementary teachers were surveyed on their feedback from this role, and most liked it and felt it was helpful and effective. *Public commenter noted she is a teacher who is paid a stipend to take on a role such as this, rather than a completely separate funded optional position* Generally public opinion seems to think this is more of a want than a need, when our district is in a poor financial position.

04/13/2026

School board voting meeting TONIGHT at 7:30 in the HMS Library. Per the agenda, community comments likely to be received at the start of the meeting and also at the end. The proposed budget will be released soon, we know many community members feel strongly about reallocation of more funds towards additional security.

In the past, the board has been reluctant to change much after they release their plans, this may be a final chance to make voices heard.

02/18/2026

January board meeting notes

Dr. Imbarlina presented the proposal for high school courses and changes from the prior year. Of note is adding pass/fail options for some senior classes, and a higher GPA for summa cm laude (4.4 to 4.5).

Calendar options were presented, one with a full week spring break and one without. Dr. Loughead attended many PTO meetings to discuss options with the school schedule. He says consistent feedback was don’t go to school any earlier in August, and don’t go any later in June, but overall there was no consistent preference for either calendar.

Option 1 is the typical calendar they’ve had for the last several years. They did move a Friday professional development day in November to a Monday, due to elementary parent feedback that having 3 Fridays off in a month are hard to plan childcare. They also moved a typical 3 day weekend in March to April, due to the early Easter weekend in March of 2027.

Option 2 is adding a full week of spring break. The feedback is that most families asked for spring break not to be around Easter, and for it to be the same week every year in March. Since Easter is in March, this wasn’t possible for the 2027 spring calendar. They removed the Monday after Thanksgiving, and Monday after Easter to get the spring break week, without adding days at the end of the year. Mrs. Hamlin said the loss of the days after Thanksgiving and Easter will likely affect families who travel during the holidays.

Per Dr. Loughead, a majority of the faculty prefers not to have a full week spring break. This is generally because when kids have long breaks, there are more instructional challenges returning to the classroom, then losing those days to PSSAs not long after. They also hope to get some data on how many families submit paperwork for a week long break from school this spring, and compare to next spring, to see if less students are missing a full week of school due to traveling, as travel is the main argument for most families who want a full week of spring break.

Option 2 was recommended and approved by the board, bringing back a full week spring break for the first time in nearly a decade.

Dr. Removcik presented the student achievement report from test scores (PSSAs, Keystones, etc) and other standardized exams. Unfortunately, this was not shown on the livestream nor included in any of the board notes, so we cannot provide this data to you. The district increased one ranking spot in the Pittsburgh area. Our note: per Niche rankings website, Hampton has 85% proficiency in English and 67% proficiency in math, ranked #6 in the Pittsburgh area.

Mrs. Kennedy brought up concerns about 8th grade math scores being consistently lower- not just in Hampton, but for many districts. She asked if maybe the covid years could have resulted in them missing foundational skills that are preventing more success. Dr. Loughead says he doesn’t believe it has anything to do with covid. They refuted her suggestion stating that Algebra I is a heavy load and that generally standardized tests are more difficult in 8th. Mrs. Kennedy also brought up the difficulty of doing math online (our note: THANK YOU- math is often too involved with steps for solving, rounding errors, etc to adequately complete online at higher levels. We hear this from dozens of parents and students at the HMS and HHS). Per the discussion, it seems many grade levels have been underperforming on math assessments for a few years. Additionally, ELA scores seem to have decreased, but this is a trend across the whole state.

Dr. Loughead says he wants scores to improve, but there is value to the classroom beyond testing. He thinks it’s just as important to work on the Talbot competencies so the students are being prepared for life, and they make the classroom more engaging. Scores will “take care of themselves” if educators focus on the Portrait of a Talbot competencies.

Budget was discussed. Many areas are still in flux, waiting on more details. Resolution was passed not to increase property taxes more than allowable under PA law. They are again unable to continue with the HHS phase 2 renovations due to budgetary constraints. For the first time in over a decade, their general fund balance increased slightly during the last budgetary period. Specific details of budgetary numbers can be found at:https://go.boarddocs.com/pa/hamp/Board.nsf/files/DQ4SLE732FF5/$file/2026-27%20Proposed%20Budget%20%26%20Planning%20Document.pdf

Financial review of prior year budget can be found here:https://go.boarddocs.com/pa/hamp/Board.nsf/files/DQ3ME55A6D13/$file/Hampton%20Twp.%20SD%202025%20ACFR.pdf

Budget projected to increase by $2.2 million for next school year, resulting in a projected shortfall of $1.3 million without adjusting the tax rate. A tax rate increase of 0.74 mills will take care of the discrepancy, this is slightly below the maximum allowable under law of 0.83 mills. Revenue projected to increase at 1.4% but expenditures going up over 3%. This has been the case for many years- this was the reasoning provided for why property taxes have increased consistently for nearly 15 years for Hampton homeowners.

01/23/2026

Results of our unscientific district calendar poll are that the spring break option isn't unpopular, but less preferred. 48 responses and 21 like the full week, 27 do not like the full week.

For many years parents asked that the board send out polls to parents via infinite campus so everyone has a voice, not just those who most effectively use social media or who have time to attend meetings and write emails. They did this once that we know of, yet ultimately chose the option that was not the favorite. It hasn't been done since.

Here's to hoping March of 2027 isn't 15 degrees and snowy for our first full week spring break since 2017

01/21/2026

We've watched the comments on social media and talked in person to many parents the last couple years. The loudest voices wanted a full week spring break and that was the option approved for next school year. This full week means the Monday after Easter, and Monday after Thanksgiving were removed. Our question is what did the majority who don't attend meetings, don't post on social media, and don't email the board with your concerns want?

Please answer our quick one question poll, we will share results in a couple days!

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

01/20/2026

Calendar options were presented at January 12th board meeting, and will be voted on tomorrow January 20th. Calendars located in comments.

Similar between both:
*Start date is August 20th (FAR too early from parents we've spoken to!)
*185 days of school
*Typical 3 day weekends we've had in the past (Labor Day, Columbus Day, 1st Fri Nov, MLK, Memorial Day)
*Added Friday April 16th as day off, likely for PSSA prep
*Holiday Break Dec 23-Jan 4
*Final day June 4th

Option 1:
Thanksgiving break Nov 26-30
Spring Break March 25-29

Option 2:
Thanksgiving break Nov 26-29
Spring break March 20-28
**Thanksgiving Monday and Easter Monday were removed from option 2 to provide a full week break in March

01/20/2026

Dec 8 brief school board session was held for reorganization and swearing in members.

Mr. Jason Hobbes was sworn in as a new member. Ms. balason, Ms. Hamlin, Mr. Vasko sworn in as re-elected members.

Hamlin was unanimously voted president, and Mr. Jarrell unanimously voted VP.

11/05/2025

Three of four Hampton School Board members kept their seats in Tuesday’s election, according to unofficial Allegheny County election results.

10/29/2025

October board meeting notes from 10/6 (the video for the 10/14 voting meeting has been removed and is not viewable at this time)

Primarily reviewed tax rates, tax collections. In last 3 years Hampton tax rate has gone from 12th lowest, to tied for 14th lowest in Allegheny County districts. For comparison of surrounding district millage rates:

Hampton 23.92

Fox Chapel 22.08

Deer Lakes 24.25

Shaler 26.34

North Hills 20.37

North Allegheny 19.74


Year over year numbers:

Real Estate tax collections up $1.5 million (+4.2%)

State Gaming distributions up $97k (+14.9%)

Earned Income tax collections up $92k (+8.4%)

Transfer taxes down $53K (-24.5%)

Collections are noted to be good, but they haven’t gotten state funding yet because of the budget impasse in Harrisburg. They estimate the district has lost $20,000 by not having the money on time to invest, noting it is not critical to their budget like other districts, but is a negative overall to wait for these funds.

The estimated Act I index (amount set that is the maximum districts can increase taxes year over year), is estimated at 3.5%. Preliminary budget numbers for 2026-27 school year available at meeting in January.