Tunkhannock Area School Board approves 3.984-mill tax increase amid budget gap and cyber-charter concerns

The Tunkhannock Area School District Board of Directors voted to approve a final 2025-26 budget that includes a 3.984-mill tax increase, a move school officials said preserves current programs while using reserves to cover a roughly $900,000 shortfall.

Superintendent Paul Winseck told the board the district expects its fund balance to absorb remaining deficit pressure if the board adopts the increase. “Our current fund balance is sitting about $14,000,000,” Winseck said, and he described cyber charter costs and rising benefit obligations as the largest drivers of the budget gap.

Why it matters: board members stressed the vote responds to a combination of fixed cost increases (health care, retirement contributions and contractual salary steps), declining local tax base revenue and large payments to cyber charter schools. Officials said without the proposed increase the district would either have to cut programs, increase class sizes, or use substantially more of the fund balance.

Key figures provided by the superintendent and discussed by the board included: - Proposed tax increase: 3.984 mills (presented as roughly a 4.8% rate increase, reported to yield just under $1.2 million in additional revenue). - Expected remaining deficit after that increase: about $900,000. - Fund balance / reserve: about $14,000,000. - Health-care increase for next year: about $695,954 (described in discussion as “about $700,000”). - State retirement (PCERS) increase for the district: roughly $250,000 year-over-year (districtwide contributions cited as about $7,500,000 total sent to the system). - Cyber charter payments budgeted for…