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Spring-Ford CFO outlines $5.8–$5.9M preliminary budget gap for 2026–27
Summary
CFO Jim Fink presented the proposed preliminary 2026–27 budget, forecasting a 3.44% expense increase, personnel costs at roughly 70% of the budget, a projected $5.8–$5.9 million preliminary gap and next steps including a Jan. 20 adoption of the preliminary budget at the work session.
Jim Fink, the district’s chief financial officer, presented the Spring-Ford Area School District’s proposed preliminary budget for fiscal year 2026–27 at the Nov. 24 board meeting, outlining revenue assumptions, cost drivers and a preliminary gap the district will work to close.
Fink told the board wages and related taxes and benefits make up about 70% of overall spending. He projected professional wages would rise about 5.3% (approximately $3.5 million) and administrative/support wages roughly 2.5% (about $500,000). He said the district’s estimate for PSERS employer contribution would move from roughly 34.34% to about 34.8 percent and that health‑benefit costs appeared to be tracking to an approximate 4.6% increase year over year, down from prior years’ double‑digit increases.
Non‑personnel drivers include transportation (with a contract renewal baked into the estimate), charter school tuition pressures (Fink noted the district spends roughly $5 million on charter schools and estimated an annual cost of about $17,000 per non‑special‑education charter student), and legal/appraisal costs tied to commercial property tax appeals. Fink estimated a preliminary budget gap of about $5.8–$5.9 million and said the Act 1 index is roughly 3.5 percent, leaving the district just over $1 million above the index target in his draft projection.
Fink described the next steps: a deeper review of budget books and personnel walks with building principals, and a planned vote to adopt the proposed preliminary budget at the Jan. 20 work session. Board members asked for clarification on slide notation; Fink confirmed slide arrows represented increases (for example, transportation was an increase of about $420,000 over last year’s final budget) and said figures presented were draft estimates, not final appropriations.
Fink also acknowledged the earlier state budget impasse had delayed some funds and said he would review interest‑revenue impacts with the finance committee in January.
