Fox Chapel officials present preliminary 2025-26 budget showing a $1.6 million recurring shortfall without revenue changes

At a Committee of the Whole meeting, Fox Chapel Area School District administrators presented a preliminary 2025-26 budget that projects $118.77 million in revenues against $121.50 million in expenditures (excluding a $1.5 million budgetary reserve), leaving a year-one imbalance that administration figures as a $1.6 million gap after planned one-time fund balance uses.

The budget matters because two largely uncontrollable pressures — a year-over-year decline in property-assessment values and a roughly $1 million increase in student-transportation costs tied to a newly bid contract — are recurring and reduce the district’s ability to balance future years without raising recurring revenue or cutting recurring programs.

District staff told the board that estimated actual revenues for 2024-25 are projected at $118.81 million, roughly 1.23% above the original 2024-25 budget, and that projected expenditures for 2024-25 are about $118.38 million, producing a small positive ending balance now being allocated into fund balance for use in 2025-26 planning. For 2025-26, major changes from the…