Springfield Township SD presents first look at 2025‑26 budget, proposes 4% tax increase and use of fund balance

Springfield Township School District finance staff presented a first‑look 2025‑26 budget to the district finance committee on March 7 that assumes a 4% tax increase (the Act 1 index), projects about $74.6 million in revenue against slightly more than $76 million in expenditures, and anticipates using approximately $1.68 million of fund balance to cover the gap.

Miss Green, staff member, ran through revenue and expenditure assumptions, saying the budget was built to the Act 1 index (4%), which she noted equates to about 1.5637 mills and would generate roughly $2.06 million at current assessments. She said the district used conservative revenue assumptions, budgeting state and federal allocations at current levels rather than optimistic projections. Miss Green also reminded the committee that ESSER (federal COVID relief) funding expired in September 2024 and will not be part of next year's revenues.

School administrators told the committee that contractual obligations and personnel costs account for the bulk of…