Centennial School District projects multimillion-dollar shortfall; board considers class-size changes, MBIT tuition and schedule shifts

Mister Greenwood told the Centennial School District Board of School Directors on Feb. 27 that updated assessed values and other recent changes have increased a projected budget deficit by about $463,000 and left the district facing a multi-million-dollar shortfall if no recurring savings are found.

The presentation focused on where the district gets revenue and where it spends it, and stressed that most of the budget is fixed: salaries, benefits and debt service make up roughly three-quarters of expenses. Greenwood told the board, “We are in a structurally deficient deficient mode,” and said the district has been using one-time measures and reserve balances to plug gaps but needs recurring reductions to balance future years.

Why it matters: the gap affects staffing, services and program choices that directly touch students and taxpayers. Board members and staff repeatedly distinguished one-time moves the district used last year — delaying technology refreshes or drawing down reserves — from recurring changes that would reduce ongoing costs.

Key points from the presentation and discussion

• State budget and local impact: Greenwood reviewed Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed state budget and told the board that Centennial would not qualify for the governor’s largest equity supplement but would see modest increases: about $116,000 in basic education funding and about $96,000 in special education funding, for a roughly $213,000 total state increase under the proposal. Ready-to-Learn grant funding remains fixed at $380,000, Greenwood said.

• Cyber-charter and CVLA: Greenwood said a proposed cap on cyber-charter tuition could benefit the district by reducing outflows to cyber schools (he estimated nearly $500,000 for Centennial under some scenarios). He also clarified that Centennial’s Virtual Learning Academy (CVLA) is composed of district residents and does not generate the same outside “cyber” funding that independent cyber-charter operators receive.

• Enrollment and student needs: the slides showed seven-year enrollment trends and demographic shifts: a roughly 10% increase in economically disadvantaged students, a roughly 5% increase in special-education students and a 1.5% increase in English-learner students; Greenwood emphasized these groups carry state or federal mandates and associated costs.

• Special education costs: Greenwood highlighted that special-education expenditures have risen much faster than enrollment, producing a widening funding gap. He noted the district receives relatively flat IDEA and state special-education funding; the board heard that a small percent rise in special-education population can yield large cost increases because services are expensive and placements can be hard to find.

• MBIT (Middle Bucks Institute of Technology): MBIT administrators shared a preliminary projection of a 6.15%–7.13% rise in member tuition/assessments, with the higher number tied to adding a second electrical instructor to meet demand. District staff estimated Centennial’s share could mean roughly $100,000–$200,000 to the district budget depending on the final MBIT numbers. Greenwood said MBIT’s request will go to its board in March and invited MBIT’s director to appear at a finance-committee meeting for a fuller briefing.

• Assessed value and homestead shift: Greenwood said a recent reassessment request by several properties reduced the district’s total assessed value by about $1 million, which cost the district roughly $200,000 in revenue versus earlier estimates. He also noted the state increased the homestead/farmstead property-tax relief amount from $2.5 million to $2.9 million; that change shifts cost from local taxpayers to the state via gaming revenue, but does not change district expenditures.

• One-time versus recurring actions: staff reminded the board that many of last year’s savings were one-time (deferred technology refreshes, paused curriculum purchases, refinancing savings). Greenwood said refinancing produced recurring savings (he cited about $2 million in savings from a prior transaction), but that the larger problem requires recurring reductions rather than repeated one-time fixes.

• Potential recurring options discussed: Greenwood and board members listed several structural options that would produce ongoing savings but could be controversial: modestly increasing elementary class sizes (examples discussed: +1 or +2 students toward existing policy caps), evaluating a change to the high-school block schedule (staff said schedule changes could produce recurring personnel savings and asked for further study), and managing enrollment/redistricting to rebalance capacity across elementary schools. Board members also raised the idea of a local Act 1 tax increase (the district’s tax-index limit under Pennsylvania law), with Greenwood noting the board must weigh the political appetite: a full 4% Act 1 increase would reduce the gap but not eliminate it.

• Staffing and retirements: Greenwood and board members discussed retirements and a recently approved retirement incentive (the board earlier increased a lump‑sum retirement payout and the per-day payout that could affect future staffing). Greenwood said retirements are variable year to year and that the district has not baked an exact number of retirements into base payroll projections; he described the payout increase the board approved on Tuesday and said that could influence retirements but was not yet reflected in the budget baseline.

Board reaction and next steps

Board members repeatedly asked for more granular follow-ups: a breakdown of one-time versus ongoing expenses, a list of positions and programs that are mandates versus discretionary, more detailed MBIT cost allocations, and an analysis of how rezoning or schedule changes would yield recurring savings. Greenwood said staff will continue to refine assumptions, work with MBIT and the Intermediate Unit on special-education projections, and bring more detailed options to the finance committee.

Several members urged the district to prioritize recurring savings and to prepare public-facing materials explaining tradeoffs: Greenwood said he will continue the analysis and that MBIT representatives and MBIT’s business administrator were invited to upcoming committee meetings. Greenwood called the materials “every possibility” for the board to consider and emphasized the board must decide which options to accept.

Ending

The board did not take a final vote on policy changes at the Feb. 27 work session. Greenwood asked for additional direction and said staff will return with more detailed, recurring-savings scenarios and clearer cost breakdowns for board review.