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Tredyffrin-Easttown board adopts preliminary 2025–26 budget, will seek Act 1 exceptions
Summary
The Tredyffrin-Easttown School Board voted 8–0 Jan. 27 to adopt a preliminary 2025–26 budget and authorize the district to seek exceptions under Act 1. The preliminary plan projects a deficit reduction but does not set a final tax rate.
The Tredyffrin-Easttown School Board on Jan. 27 adopted a preliminary budget for the 2025–26 school year and authorized district staff to pursue exceptions under Act 1 from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, a move the board said preserves scheduling and filing timelines while leaving final tax and spending decisions for later meetings.
Business manager Art McDonald told the board the resolution on the agenda would allow the district to file a preliminary budget in February and return to the board with a proposed final budget in April and a legally required final adoption in June. The presentation showed an untreated deficit near $12.2 million that could fall to about $5.4 million if the district files for the Act 1 index increase and an eligible special-education referendum exception, and it includes a planned $6,000,000 transfer to the capital fund.
The budget, McDonald said, projects total authorized spending near $198 million while anticipated spending (before a contingency) is about $195 million; adding the usual $3 million contingency produces the full authorized spending figure. McDonald described timeline steps including a public notice already published and a state filing window in early February.
Board members asked clarifying questions about the schedule for workshops, staffing and capital funding. Doctor Hodinsky (board member) emphasized the capital contribution built into the budget is intended to fund major projects now underway — athletic fields and a new elementary school conversion — and said that accounting for those capital commitments helps explain the gap between steady enrollment and rising tax pressure. Miss Piccione asked that the first workshop focus on revenue and the second on expenditures (with staffing usually in the second workshop); McDonald confirmed that approach.
One resident, Cindy Virgaldi, urged the board to consider taxpayers who are not wealthy and may struggle with taxes; the board acknowledged the public comment and proceeded to roll-call vote. The budget resolution passed on roll call, eight votes in favor and none opposed.
The vote adopted only a preliminary budget and authorization to seek exceptions under Act 1; the board did not set a final tax rate. Board members and staff repeated that the decision preserves compliance with state deadlines and opens a multi-month public process that will include finance-committee meetings and two budget workshops before any final tax or spending decisions.
What the resolution does not do: it does not raise taxes tonight or finalize the 2025–26 tax rate. Final revenue and spending decisions, including any tax increase, will come back to the board at the planned April and June meetings.
Details from the presentation that the board recorded on the public record included an estimated Act 1 index (4.0 percent) and a projected combined tax-rate impact (index plus special-education exception) of about 4.66 percent for 2025–26, a $6,000,000 planned capital transfer, and contingency and entity-wide presentation items intended to show the interaction between general and capital funds.
The district scheduled the next steps as: a public filing of intent to seek exceptions in early February, two budget workshops (March and April), adoption of a proposed budget April 28, and final adoption on June 9.
