Centennial School District previews 2025–26 budget, flags $934,600 special-education reconciliation and continued pressure from labor costs

Centennial School District called a special budget work session Thursday, Jan. 30, to review preliminary projections for the 2025–26 fiscal year, explain last year’s year-end transfers and reconciliations, and begin five-year capital and operating planning for 2026–2030.

Mister Greenwood, the district administrator presenting the budget, opened with an overview of fiscal 2024 results and the draft 2025–26 projection, saying the district ended the year with a better-than-expected net position and had transferred $3,000,000 from the general fund to the debt-service fund as a year-end entry. He told the board the district’s tax-collection rate finished the year at about 97.4% and that the draft 2026 budget shows expense growth of about 3.52% compared with the current budget, creating a projected deficit because revenues are projected to rise by less than 1%.

The presentation highlighted several items that will affect the near-term budget: a $934,600 special-education reconciliation owed to the Bucks County Intermediate Unit (BCIU); continued escalation in medical-benefit costs and substitute/paraprofessional spending (professional substitutes grew about 8.3%); and assumptions built into the five-year model such as a 4% Act 1 index for…