West York Area SD previews 2025-26 budget; board weighs 4% tax index and fund-balance risk

Sherry, a district staff member, presented a first look at the West York Area School District's proposed 2025-26 budget and told the school board the package assumes a 4% property-tax index and currently shows a $966,178 shortfall under that scenario.

The presentation laid out revenue and expense drivers the district will use to shape the final budget. Sherry said the district began the year with a $9.6 million fund balance and that recent state revenue and unfilled positions have recouped about $2.0 million of last years projected deficit. She told the board the proposed building-and-department expenditures total $27,597,236 and that salaries and benefits make up roughly 63.2% of the budget. Sherry also flagged that about 7% of the budget pays cyber-charter costs and that special education and pupil services account for about 10.8%.

Director Todd Geddes, who asked the board to consider the district's bond-rating needs, warned against letting reserves fall below a safe floor. "We do not want to let our fund balance go below the floor of 10% of our budget," Geddes said, urging the administration to model what another $1 million in cuts would look like so the board can weigh options now rather than later.

Nut graf: The session was a budget preview, not a final vote. The presentation identified the principal pressure pointscyber-charter costs, special-education enrollment shifts, debt service and health-care costsand established a timeline for further review: a…