Hempfield Area still needs to figure out how to close a $172,000 gap in its 2025-26 budget ahead of the school board’s next voting meeting June 23, where a final budget will be adopted.
The board held the final public hearing on its $114.5 million budget June 2. On May 19, it approved a proposed final budget with a 4.35-mill tax hike, the maximum allowable increase.
This would raise the district tax rate to 95.11 mills and increase tax bills about $98 annually for residents with the median assessed home value of $22,660.
District expenses are up nearly 4.5% from 2024-25, partially due to rising retirement and health insurance costs, Superintendent Mark Holtzman said.
Revenue is up nearly 2% from last year, at $111.7 million. But that is still $2.8 million shy of the district’s anticipated expenses. The tax hike would cover about $2.6 million of the deficit.
Holtzman and business manager Paul Schott previously cautioned the board against relying on the district’s fund balance to address the deficit. There was no proposal mentioned Monday night on how the gap might be closed.
Superintendent doubtful cyber reform will pass
Hempfield Area may not be able to rely on cyber charter school reform measures — proposed April 21 — to assist the district’s financial situation.
The House education committee moved forward legislation last week to put a cap on the tuition that school districts have to pay for students in their area to attend one of the state’s 14 public cyber charter schools.
The legislation calls for a flat tuition rate of $8,000 per student — a motion included in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed state budget for 2025-26. Special education tuition could still exceed that rate.
Annual cyber tuition rates vary throughout the state, ranging from $7,600 per student to nearly $29,000 per student, according to the Department of Education. Tuition rates are determined by a formula based on the school district’s budgeted expenses from the year prior.
This funding system has been in place since 2002. Nearly 95% of the state’s 500 public schools have passed resolutions calling for cyber charter reform, according to the memo for the bill.
Hempfield Area could save nearly $2.7 million if the legislation were enacted, Schott estimated.
The bill landed in the state Senate education committee Friday. But Holtzman is doubtful it will be signed into law.
“There’s a good rumor that the $8,000 per cyber charter school student is not going to make it through … the Senate,” he said. “(The bill) could be a considerable support for our district based on the number of (cyber) charter school students (we have).”
‘You have to have money to do those things’
Holtzman said the district may not have had to consider a tax increase if the flat cyber tuition rate were set. It is important, he said, for Hempfield Area to compete against cyber charter schools by maintaining the district’s facilities.
“You have to have money to do those things,” he said. “You cannot continue down a path with roofs that are leaking and facilities that are inadequate and unsafe for children.”
The district has replaced the roofs of several of its buildings this past school year. The board is also continuing to chip away at its high school renovation project, advancing a schematic design May 19. The project could cost about $150 million, Holtzman said.
Hempfield Area’s budget deficit has not been caused by bonds issued for the renovation or any other capital improvements, Schott said.
Hempfield Area School Board will vote on its final 2025-26 budget at 7 p.m. June 23 in the district administration building.