Abington board adopts $216 million preliminary budget, authorizes referendum-exception advertisement
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The Abington Board of School Directors voted Feb. 10 to adopt a $216,004,564 preliminary general fund budget for 2026–27 and to authorize the administration to advertise for a referendum-exception related to middle-school debt. The budget assumes a 3.5% Act 1 index and includes a projected 33.59% PSERS contribution rate.
The Abington Board of School Directors on Feb. 10 adopted the district's preliminary 2026–27 general fund budget of $216,004,564 and authorized the administration to advertise its intent to request a referendum exception from the Pennsylvania Department of Education related to debt for the proposed Abington Middle School.
Miss Denicola presented the budget during the board's orientation period, saying the proposal assumes an Act 1 index of 3.5 percent and a projected Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) employer contribution rate of 33.59 percent. She said total revenues are estimated at $213,571,491 and total expenses at $216,004,564, producing a budgeted use of fund balance of $2,433,073. Denicola also outlined revenue and expense line items, including $150,183,544 in budgeted real estate taxes and roughly $3,000,000 of mandated charter-school costs included in other services.
Board members pressed for clarification on several large drivers of cost. Denicola said PSERS is certified annually by the state retirement board and that the district pays 100 percent of the contribution and receives roughly 50 percent reimbursement from the state. She said the district has about 1,200 employees, about 990 of whom are benefit-eligible. On charter-school costs she said cyber-charter payments are currently about $2.5 million and brick-and-mortar charter costs about $5 million, and that new state residency-verification requirements beginning in March may reduce payments for students who do not live in the district.
Mrs. Brown moved to adopt the preliminary budget with a real estate tax millage of 42.7169 mills and the commonly used local revenue assumptions; the motion was seconded and approved by the board. Separately, the board authorized the administration to advertise intent to request a referendum exception tied to the middle-school project, with Miss Denicola noting any final application would be submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education by March 2026. The board emphasized that authorizing the advertisement does not commit it to the exception itself.
The administration laid out next steps: the district expects to continue refining revenue and expenditure estimates through June, pursue grant opportunities to offset capital costs, present a proposed final budget for adoption on May 12, 2026, and bring the Homestead/Farmstead exclusion resolution and final budget to the board on June 23, 2026. Denicola and other administrators said the district will continue to work to lower the use of fund balance over the coming two years.
The board's vote on the preliminary budget and the referendum-advertisement authorization came alongside routine approvals for minutes, personnel addenda, permits for buildings and grounds, the 2026'27 school calendar, and grant-application authorization for Copper Beach Elementary.
What happens next: the administration will update estimates as county assessment values and state certifications (including property tax relief amounts) are finalized. If the board chooses to formally request a referendum exception, the district must submit the request by the March 2026 deadline noted in the presentation.
Source: Presentation and Q&A with Miss Denicola during the Feb. 10, 2026 Abington Board of School Directors meeting; board motions and votes recorded in meeting proceedings.