The new Pennridge School District logo. (Courtesy of the Pennridge School District)
The Pennridge School Board is facing another difficult budget season as the district continues grappling with rising expenses amid declining revenue growth.
The financial challenges resulted last year in the district’s first tax increase in eight years, which board members attributed to flat local tax revenue and insufficient state funding amid soaring costs, namely pensions, charter school tuition and special education.
At the board’s most recent finance committee meeting, Chief Operating Officer Sean Daubert revealed that the district is $1.4 million short in revenue for the current fiscal year due to lower-than-expected local tax revenue and interest earnings. Moreover, the district is running roughly $1.1 million over budget due to additional special education expenses and higher operations expenses, which Daubert attributed to snow cleanup efforts and elevated utility costs.
“We’re hoping real estate revenue picks up between now and end of this year,” said Daubert. “But I’m being as conservative as possible in this projection.”
Turning to the upcoming fiscal year, Daubert’s current 2026-2027 budget outlook projects $162.6 million in revenue, down from $163.2 million in the current year, and $169.6 million in expenditures, yielding a $7 million deficit.
In addition to declining local tax revenue, Daubert noted that state funding increases have not kept pace with rising district expenses, namely special education. Under Governor Shapiro’s proposed 2026-2027 budget, Pennridge would receive an additional 223,000 or 1.2% in funding. Daubert noted that the lion’s share of new funding, dubbed adequacy funding, is being steered to low-income school districts following the Commonwealth Court ruling deeming Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional.
“So with local funding dried up and with very little funding from the state, it’s creating a perfect storm for districts that don’t qualify for the adequacy funding,” said Daubert.
A maximum allowable tax increase of 3.5% would generate $3.2 million in revenue, leaving the district with a projected $3.8 million deficit. Budget balancing may therefore necessitate fund balance transfers or a reduction of capital fund transfers, said Daubert.
The administration will continue monitoring local tax collection as work progresses on balancing the budget, said Daubert. Updated budget projections will be presented next month. Adoption of the final budget is scheduled for June.
The next Pennridge School Board meeting is on March 23 at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit pennridge.org
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