EASTON, Pa. – The Easton Area School District on Tuesday said this week’s weather continues to offer challenges for district officials.

“This has been a troubling week in terms of getting everybody to school and getting everybody to school on time,” said district Superintendent Tracy Piazza.

Troubles will continue through the end of the week as the region digs out of significant snowfall that ranged from 11 to 14 inches over the weekend and into chilling temperatures.

Bitter cold will continue to batter the Lehigh Valley with afternoon high temperatures in the teens and nighttime lows falling below zero.

“The week will continue to be a little bit tenuous,” advised Piazza, who noted Wednesday’s two-hour delay.

The superintendent urged monitoring district communications for any schedule changes this week.

Piazza said any decisions regarding closures, delays or online instruction are made after careful consultation with officials from other districts, weather reports and district staff.

“It’s a decision that’s a no-win for me…but it is not made in isolation,” Piazza said.

Career Institute of Technology budget

In other news, the EASD board of directors received a budget presentation from the Career Institute of Technology, presented by Executive Director Adrianne Jones.

CIT provides students from five school districts — Bangor Area, Nazareth Area, Pen Argyl Area, Wilson Area and Easton Area — with 19 high school programs for students in 10th, 11th and 12th grades.

Those programs include automotive technology, building and property maintenance, cosmetology, culinary arts, exercise science, veterinary, early childhood education, electronics technology, machine tool technology, masonry and welding technology, among others.

For 2024-25, the technical school hosted 269 EASD students.

CIT utilizes an “80-20” formulation to arrive at its funding formula. This involves 80% of the total derived from each district’s total CIT enrollment over the last three years, with the remaining 20% calculated from the total eligible enrollment.

According to Jones, the CIT’s three-year average was 708 per year or 2,123, with a total eligible enrollment of 4,824.

Total eligible enrollment is down 216 from 2024-25 among all five sending districts, she said.

While fewer students are coming from the districts, there are more enrolling at the school, Jones explained.

“I will say that career and tech ed is thriving in general. The trades are where it’s at right now,” Jones said.

For EASD, the average daily membership over the past three years increased by 52. According to the funding formula, the district’s share is 38% of the budget.

CIT’s 2025-26 approved operating budget is $10.3 million, while the 2026-27 proposed spending shows a 3% increase, or $322,000, to $10.6 million.

Salaries, benefits, healthcare rates, software costs and other expenses contributed to the increase, Jones said.

CIT proposed an $8.3 million cost to sending districts for the 2026-27 school year, which is an increase from $8 million. That correlates to an increased cost of $281,121 for districts, with Easton’s increase at $105,000.

The board will vote to approve the spending plan in February.

Bond issuance for high school funding

Lastly, the board voted to approve Raymond James & Associates Inc. to begin the bonding process for a bond issue for funding of the proposed $300 million new high school construction project.

A bond sale with the locking of the interest rates is anticipated in April.

The advisors previously explained that their plan for the funding of the $300 million project would be to use 1.5% of the Act 1 Index each year until 2034.

The Act 1 Index is the number that the state determines the school district can raise taxes without a voter referendum.