North Penn finance committee leans toward using Act 1 index for 2025–26 tax rate; narrower options to be modeled

The North Penn School District finance committee was presented with the district’s 2025–26 budget and tax-rate scenarios and directed staff to place a proposed-final budget for action on May 15 while bringing back refined tax-rate options before final adoption in June.

District staff presented a working budget that, excluding a $10 million transfer to the capital improvement fund, would produce roughly a 5% year‑over‑year spending increase; with the transfer included the budget would show an 8.15% increase and a total of about $348,735,000. Staff recommended using the state Act 1 index — projected at about 4% for 2025–26 — as the district’s baseline tax-rate increase. "We need to give you direction on the tax rate so by May 15 we can adopt the proposed final budget," a staff member said during the presentation.

Why i…