When: Cocalico school board meeting, Feb. 9, originally scheduled for Jan. 26 but was postponed due to winter weather.
What happened: The school board approved the Lancaster County Career & Technology Center budget for 2026-27 with a projected cost for Cocalico of $841,950, an increase of $19,145 from the current school year.
Background: Cocalico’s share of expenses rose 4.7% from the prior year due primarily to increases in labor and health care costs. The career and tech center is passing these costs on to school districts who participate in their educational programs.
Enrollment: The number of Cocalico students enrolling in career and tech center programs has remained fairly steady over the past several years, Allison Ohline, communications director, said in an email on Feb. 11.
Board comments: Board member Desiree Wagner, who serves as the representative to the career and tech center for Cocalico, encouraged the board to approve the budget.
Quotable: “The budget team does a fantastic job in going line-by-line through the budget, making sure the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, and so they are presenting us with the best budget we have here,” Wagner said before the vote.
Personnel developments: The board approved the appointment of Lesley Stricker to the position of business manager, effective July 1. Stricker will take over for Sherri Stull, who is retiring after serving in this capacity for 19 years. Stricker has been employed in the district business office since September 1993 and became assistant business manager in July 2000.
More: Jessica Townsley was approved by the board to become the director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment on July 1. Townsley will be taking on many of the duties assigned to Angela Marley, who is the assistant to the superintendent for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Marley will begin her role as superintendent on July 1, replacing Ella Musser, who is retiring. Townsley has worked for Cocalico since 2014 and has been assistant principal at the high school since January 2022.
Salaries: The school board has not yet approved the salaries for the two positions, but the base salary for business manager is $145,000, and the base salary for the curriculum, instruction and assessment director is $125,000, Ohline said in an email after the meeting.
What’s next: The next school board meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23.
