Pennridge school board members look on at a February board meeting. (Courtesy of the Pennridge School District)
The Pennridge School Board Monday adopted the district’s 2025-2026 budget with a 3.6% property tax increase, the first increase in eight years.
The budget projects total revenues and expenditures of $163,159,329. The tax increase will amount to an extra $156.69 per year for the average homeowner with a median assessed property value of $31,760.
The district has not raised taxes since the 2016-2017 school year. Board members attributed the hike to flat local tax revenue, state funding reductions and federal funding uncertainty amidst soaring district expenses, including pensions, charter school tuition and special education, all of which are mandated by state law.
“The issue is that we are mandated to do so many things on the expenditure side, and we are so limited in our ability to raise money to pay for those things,” said Business Administrator Sean Daubert at the April finance committee meeting. “The state says, ‘You must pay, and by the way, you can only have this much revenue.’”
“We have cut expenditures to the point where if we cut more, we’re going to start cutting educational programs and go into a reduction of force,” said Daubert at the May finance committee meeting.
“We’re also staring down the barrel of potential reductions in federal funding,” added Superintendent Angelo Berrios at the committee meeting. “I think that we need to have some reserves in case we don’t get those funds, so we have to make some tough decisions. After eight years of no increases, I believe the time has come.”
The budget passed by a vote of 5-4, with board members Christine Batycki, Jordan Blomgren, Ricki Chaikin and Bob Cormack voting in the minority, some of whom argued in favor of cutting expenditures or borrowing from the unassigned fund balance.
Revised child abuse policy
The board approved on first reading a revised child abuse policy. Recommended by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), the revisions include the extension of mandatory child abuse training to school volunteers and the permission of school employees to take photographs for evidence preservation. Photographs must be sent to the county agency with a written report or within 48 hours of an electronic report, reads the policy.
The revisions are aimed at maintaining the district’s compliance with child protective services law, said Director of Student Services Ernest Johnson. The policy was first adopted in the 2012-2013 school year and last revised in the 2014-2015 school year.
The policy will return to committee for a second reading.
The next Pennridge school board meeting is on August 25 at 7 p.m. For more information, visit pennridge.org.
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