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Finance Committee: William Penn SD sees solid collections, $1.1M+ cyber-charter refunds and several cost pressures for 2025'26
Summary
Staff told the Finance Committee that real-estate tax collections are at 97.3% through February, transfer taxes are 16.5% above budget through February, and Kiara reported more than $1.1 million recovered from cyber-charter reconciliations; contractual and healthcare increases will add pressure to next year's budget.
At its March finance meeting, William Penn SD staff reviewed preliminary 2025'26 budget lines and flagged several items that will affect next year's planning.
Miss Debbie (staff) said local real-estate tax collections were 97.3 percent of budget through Feb. 28 and that transfer taxes were about 16.5 percent above budget through February. Delinquent-tax collections were at about 90.46 percent through February, and state and federal Basic Education funding were arriving on schedule.
On charter-school billing, staff described a reconciliation under PDE 363 changes. Kiara reported that the district had recovered "so far over $1.1 million back" in refunds related to cyber charter billing and that final reconciliation will happen at year-end. The committee asked staff to provide a final reconciled figure once the year'end billing is complete.
Staff also summarized contracts and expected budget impacts: maintenance-and-operations bids assume a 5 percent increase (a minimum of about $240,750), student-services contract assumptions projected a 14.5 percent increase (more than $1,000,000), the IU special-education contract shows a 9.4 percent increase, and the votech (vocational) cost increase was noted as roughly $261,000 driven by a three-year average and 14 additional students. A board member requested counts of students associated with the DCIU special-education and votech budgets for clarity.
The committee discussed the announced departure of Dr. B. Coates in August. Staff said the superintendent's salary is already budgeted and that hiring a replacement is an additional administrative task but does not alter the budget-construction process at this stage; no decisions about a new superintendent's salary have been made.
On benefits, staff said the district's healthcare trust contribution is projected to increase by 9.22 percent, about $570,000, driven by a small number of high-cost claimants; there was no increase in prescription costs reported.
Staff said several grant efforts are underway: a PCCD safety grant being finalized and five DCED operational grants applied for FY26'27 (those grants are not for the current fiscal year). The committee confirmed it will revisit detailed contract and bargaining figures at the April 23 finance meeting.
The meeting closed with a reminder about the April meeting date and standard follow-up items.
