Bethlehem Area School Board adopts 2025–26 budget, will draw $5.9M from fund balance

The Bethlehem Area School District Board of Directors voted May 12 to adopt the district's proposed 2025'26 budget, approving a plan that relies on a $5.9 million draw from the district's fund balance.

District financial staff told the board the adopted budget includes $373,000,000 in general fund appropriations and assumes about $2.5 million in state adequacy funding under the governor's proposal; the budget also reflects a roughly $1 million increase in state gaming revenue that administrators said reduces local tax pressure.

Finance staff said the district is "balancing this budget with a $5,900,000 draw from our fund balance," and that, as presented, state support from the governor's proposals would leave Bethlehem essentially flat-funded after accounting for reduced cyber-charter reimbursement. The presenter said the budget does not include adjustments for anticipated cyber-charter reform.

The board's discussion focused on the uncertainty around state and federal funding and on growing charter tuition costs. District staff said charter tuition increases are driven primarily by rate recalculations rather than enrollment changes and that charter costs rose about 14% compared with last year, which outpaces the district's expected adequacy funding.

Board members and administrators described expenditure reductions made since the preliminary budget: roughly $3 million in cuts, nearly 20 positions removed through attrition, reduced transportation and capital projects (including delayed vehicle purchases), and scaled-back supplies, training and extracurricular equipment replacement. Administrators said those reductions are intended to protect classroom instruction, class sizes, student services and extracurricular programs while meeting debt-service commitments tied to new construction projects.

The board recorded the motion to adopt the proposed 2025'26 budget and carried the motion at the May 12 meeting. The administration said it will continue monitoring state and federal developments and will adjust the June 9 final adoption if new information on adequacy or federal aid becomes available.

As presented at the meeting, the budget'related figures that board members and staff highlighted include a $5.9 million fund-balance draw, approximately $2.5 million budgeted from the governor's adequacy proposal, an uptick of just over $1 million in state gaming revenue, and $373,000,000 in general fund appropriations. Charter tuition increases and unresolved cyber-charter reform remain major areas of uncertainty going into the fiscal year.

Next steps: administrators said additional clarity on state funding is expected before the board's planned final adoption on June 9; if material changes occur, staff said they will return with adjustments.