Quaker Valley School District officials plan to raise real estate taxes by 3.5% in next school year’s budget.
No cuts to programs or services are included in the proposed 2026-27 spending plan, which was approved by school directors via 8-0 vote on April 21.
Geoff Barnes, school board vice president and finance committee chair, was absent.
The final budget is expected to be presented on May 12 and voted on on May 20.
The current tax rate is 22.075 mills. The new rate, should it be approved, would be 22.8469 mills, a 0.7719-mill jump.
Owners of a $200,000 assessed valued property currently pay $4,415 in school property taxes.
They would pay about $4,569 next school year, a $154 increase, under the proposed millage rate.
“The district does not rely on a single median property value, as that figure can vary depending on methodology,” Baker said before the meeting. “For consistency and clarity in communicating tax impact, the district used a standardized assessed value of $200,000 when illustrating the effect of millage changes.”
Proposed revenue was listed at $63,824,314 and expense at $64,059,705, a $235,391 shortfall.
The funding gap may be closed by pulling from the district’s $10.25 million reserve fund.
Baker said the tax increase is necessary because revenue is not keeping up with expenses.
Expected income includes about $42.98 million in real estate taxes, $10.815 million in state revenue, including $2.9 million in basic education subsidies, $5.474 million in earned income taxes, $1.325 million in delinquent real estate taxes and $516,000 in federal and other funds.
Expected spending includes about $43 million for salaries and benefits, $6.68 million for debt service, $2.6 million for transportation, $1.33 million for building utilities, $1.2 million for technology, $1.1 million for safety and security services, $1.1 million for central administration/building operations, $575,000 for Sewickley Public Library and $564,000 for student services.
Baker said officials will continue to review the plan, but do not anticipate any major changes next month.
Superintendent Tammy Andreyko said budgeting is a team effort with everyone keeping student success and fiscal responsibility in mind.
“A really big thank you to the board for their continued support of our academic programs,” Andreyko said. “As we reviewed the new curriculum, we have shown our dedication to having the best and the brightest working on the programs for our students. We take great pride in that.
“We’ve asked everyone to be very good stewards from all the controllers within our school district. … Anyone who works on our budget has been asked to look very closely at their expenditures for the year. To take a look at negotiating the best prices (and) the best opportunities for us, and that’s what they’ve done.”
School Board treasurer Missy Walls said she believes the administration did their due diligence in putting the spending plan together.
“I think Brooke put a lot of time and effort into this, and a lot of thought into the budget and where we can save money (and) where we have to save money,” Walls said. “I think moving forward this is a really good proposed budget.”
Total student enrollment is about 1,800.
The proposed budget is available for review on the district’s website under the finance department tab. A link was also attached to the April 21 online agenda.