Mifflin County SD finance staff projects $5.4 million preliminary deficit for 2025-26 general fund

Belinda Pinnell, business office staff for the Mifflin County School District, told the school board that the draft 2025-26 general fund shows roughly $96 million in revenue and $101,608,295 in expenses, leaving a preliminary deficit of about $5.4 million.

Pinnell said the district’s revenue estimate excludes a proposed state “advocacy” increase the governor has put forward and therefore is conservative: "If we do get what the governor has proposed, it would be an additional 2 and a half million dollars for Millbrook County School District, but we can't depend on that," Pinnell said. She told the board the district is continuing work on projections and has a schedule aimed at producing a proposed budget for the May 22 meeting and a final budget by the state deadline of June 30.

Why it matters: the shortfall reflects rising payroll and benefit costs, increasing special-education and charter tuition obligations, and one-time and recurring stadium-related costs that will affect how the board uses fund balance and reserves.

Most important numbers and choices - Revenues: "a little under $96,000,000" (Pinnell). - Expenses: $101,608,295 (Pinnell's presentation), producing a preliminary deficit of about $5,400,000. - Payroll: Pinnell projected roughly a 6.5% increase in salaries (from about $35 million to about $37 million) and a benefits increase of about 6.67%, for an overall payroll increase near 6.6%. - Health insurance: family premium projected at $30,649 per year; 490 employees participate in the plan and roughly 31% are on family coverage. The collective-bargaining opt-out payment is $4,000 per employee who declines district coverage. - Retirement/pension: Pinnell reported the certified pension rate for 2025-26 at about 34% (reported in the presentation as certified by the state retirement system). - Assigned balances and reserves: the district has about $1.6 million in an assigned technology fund balance (Pinnell said roughly $1.3 million of that could be used for planned technology purchases), $1 million set aside for athletic turf replacement, and an $8 million capital reserve fund that remains available for capital needs. - Stadium project: Pinnell said the athletic complex is roughly an $8 million project, the district has received about $2.1 million from fundraisers, and she projected the district would have borrowed about $5.9 million by June 30; the budget includes $423,127 in 2025-26 attributable to the stadium (utilities, repairs and estimated debt interest/expenses are included as estimates). - Charter tuition and special-education costs: Pinnell estimated charter tuition expense for 2025-26 at about $5.7 million. She outlined charter special-education per-student rates used in the state formula that underlie these totals: an estimated brick-and-mortar special-education rate of about $32,000 and a cyber special-education rate of about $28,961 (these are the district calculations Pinnell presented based on the state formula changes).

Staffing and program changes included in the draft budget Pinnell walked through position additions and eliminations incorporated into the expense totals. The presentation lists multiple additions in special education, a new districtwide health-room aide (licensed nurse), additional educational interpreter staffing (moving from subcontracted service toward direct hires as student need rises), and several other building-level positions. Pinnell said last year’s budget included 403 teachers; the draft 2025-26 staffing count she showed was 412 teachers.

Pinnell explained some line-item strategies: technology purchases planned for 2025-26 could be funded in part from the assigned technology fund balance set aside in 2023-24, rather than carrying the full cost into ongoing operating expenses.

Board discussion and context Board members asked clarifying questions about special-education reimbursement from the state, the charter tuition formula, and how the district’s use of ESSER federal grant funds in prior years reduced charter cost calculations (Pinnell said excluding ESSER-funded salaries from the charter formula had previously lowered charter payments but those exclusions are no longer available as ESSER spending has ended). Pinnell and other participants noted that the state has certified additional homestead and farmstead relief funds for local tax relief; the district expects roughly $3,348,000 in that program certification and estimated an additional reduction of roughly $40–$45 per approved property in homestead/farmstead relief.

Next steps Pinnell reminded the board the district will meet again May 19 to refine numbers and expects to present a proposed budget at the board's May 22 regular meeting; under the scheduling she cited the proposed budget must sit for the required state public-notice period before a final adoption by June 30.

No formal votes were taken during the presentation portion of the meeting; the board will consider the proposed budget on the stated schedule.