The Elizabethtown Area School District Board on May 27 approved the district's final 2025–26 budget with a 2.5% tax increase and a plan to draw on the district's fund balance to cover an anticipated shortfall of $1,483,365.

The vote followed more than an hour of public comment and a contentious proposal to postpone the budget and raise the tax rate to 4.5%, which failed on a 6–2 roll-call vote. Board members then approved the budget as presented; the final roll call on the budget was 6 yes, 2 no (No: Board member Thomas Reed and Board member Matthew Emery; Yes: Board members Jonathan Gillis, Mary Lindemuth, Matthew Riggleman, Amanda Schrum, Karen Wilson, and Board President Steven Lindemuth).

Supporters of a larger tax increase said the district should avoid drawing from savings and fully fund staff and libraries; opponents argued the community cannot absorb a larger levy. “Vote no on this disastrous budget,” public commenter Amy Carr told the board, citing planned cuts to nine positions and a $0 library budget. Alicia Runkel told the board, “This budget is setting us up for long term failure,” saying cuts would deplete supports for students and teachers.

Administrators and board members debated the budget's uncertainties. Chief financial staff noted the district has not finalized a contract with its professional staff and warned that contract outcomes could raise total costs beyond the $1.48 million shortfall. Business official Strickler told the board the administration “does not have a contract with our professional staff, that is not in this budget,” and said that unknowns around bargaining make the fund balance draw a chief concern.

The budget package includes a separate approved transfer to capital reserve: the board directed administration to move $228,693 from the general fund to capital reserve for future building project savings. The board also approved separate roll-call items required by law, including the homestead and farmstead exclusion resolution.

Public commenters repeatedly highlighted specific proposed cuts noted in district documents and presentations: nine unfilled positions (identified in public comments as two social studies teachers, four elementary teachers and one reading specialist), a $0 allocation for K–12 libraries, and use of roughly $1.4 million from reserves to cover the deficit. Community members and the teachers' union president urged the board to reconsider the savings draw and to prioritize classroom staffing and library funding.

Board discussion included procedural concerns about timing: a proposal to postpone and increase the tax rate to 4.5% was amended and put to a vote; proponents argued more time and a higher levy were warranted given facility needs, while administration warned the business office needed time to prepare a budget at any new rate and that statutory timelines constrained revisions.

The board approved several routine items in a grouped consensus vote earlier in the meeting (items 1 and 7–15, 17 and 20) before taking separate roll-call votes on the budget and related financial actions. The district must submit its adopted final budget to the Pennsylvania Department of Education within the required timeline.

The board will move forward with the adopted 2.5% budget while acknowledging the administration's warning that bargaining outcomes or other unbudgeted costs could increase reliance on fund balance.