Mifflin County SD projects roughly $3.6M shortfall in proposed 2025–26 budget; board to submit draft to PDE

The Mifflin County School District presented a proposed 2025–26 budget that, as drafted, shows a multiyear operating deficit the administration expects to trim but not eliminate before submitting the proposal to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). Budget presenter Mrs. Knapp said the draft shows total revenue just under $96 million and total expenditures above $100 million, leaving a deficit that staff initially described as “just under $5,000,000” and that falls to about $3,643,510 after planned draws from the district’s assigned technology fund.

Why it matters: the district must file a proposed budget with PDE by May 31, and the proposed numbers drive decisions about staffing, capital purchases and whether local taxpayers will see a tax increase. Board members and staff focused discussion on three drivers: rising special-education spending, a planned computer/laptop refresh, and the addition of 15.5 staff positions, most for special education.

Mrs. Knapp (the meeting’s budget presenter) told the board that special-education costs have increased year over year and that the budgeted special-education expense rose by roughly $1.7 million compared with the current year. She identified transportation and certain other object-level increases as additional upward pressures on expenditures. The presentation shows the largest object-level technology increase at about $1.3 million, largely for a summer 2026 laptop refresh; staff said most of that amount would be covered by an assigned technology fund balance on the district balance sheet.

On staffing, the draft includes 15.5 new positions, and staff said two new paraprofessional positions would be funded from ACCESS federal funds. The administration also described a budgeting strategy that would initially place many of the new positions in the district’s budgetary reserve line so those salary amounts would be excluded from the charter-school tuition calculation; if positions are later filled, staff said they would prepare board-authorized budget transfers to move the funds into the appropriate function codes.

To reduce the gap, staff plan to use $1,274,487 from the assigned technology fund for Mr. Cunningham’s planned purchases; that draw lowers the projected deficit to about $3.64 million. Mrs. Knapp said a proposed increase in state adequacy funding discussed at the capitol — a $2.5 million “ready-to-learn” addition the governor proposed — would, if realized, reduce the remaining deficit to roughly $1.1 million. Staff emphasized that the state proposal had not passed and is not guaranteed.

Board discussion also addressed the district’s fund balance and capital reserves. The presenter said the district’s total general fund balance is about $27 million, including roughly $10 million in COVID-era funds that were used over recent years to supplant general fund spending and to stabilize staffing. The district also has about $8.3 million in capital reserve funds, with planned projects listed for 2025–26. Staff warned that relying repeatedly on fund balance to cover recurring operating gaps would be unsustainable.

The presentation included a policy and finance discussion about Pennsylvania’s charter-school funding formula. Mrs. Knapp summarized recent state audit findings and outside reporting that show substantial fund balances at some cyber charter schools and described the formula’s effect on local charter tuition payments: as a district’s budget rises while statewide enrollment declines, charter tuition charges to sending districts can increase. The presenter told the board that the Office of the Auditor General’s review found increased revenues and reserves at several cyber charter schools, and she conveyed concern that a large share of recent state subsidy increases tend to flow to charter tuition rather than remain for the district’s in-district needs.

Next steps: the administration will file the proposed budget with PDE by the May 31 deadline, continue updating federal and other revenue estimates (staff said they still needed to reconcile federal program figures with Frank Miller), and return to the board at the regular meeting later in the week to seek formal board approval. The presenter requested the board’s concurrence to submit the draft; board members voiced general support during the discussion but did not take a formal vote at the session recorded in the transcript.

The presenter closed by noting uncertainty remains — primarily the amount of state aid that will finally be enacted and the district’s ability to staff newly budgeted positions — and said staff will continue to refine numbers ahead of final filings and the next board meeting.