York City SD presents proposed 2026–27 budget with no millage increase, but key programs hinge on Ready to Learn funds

Dr. Barry Brown, speaking as the district’s lead presenter, unveiled the proposed 2026–27 budget and said the administration recommends a 0.0% millage increase for the year. "We are not increasing taxes for the 2627 budget," Dr. Barry Brown said, attributing that outcome to a state tax-equity allocation that offsets what otherwise could have been a 1% increase.

The proposal centers on three priorities — student achievement, fiscal stewardship and grant acquisition/employee retention — and includes new and continuing requests across athletics, student services, special education and early childhood. Dr. Brown presented a timeline showing the budget process begins in September and runs through final adoption and implementation in July, and he asked the board to place a resolution on next week’s agenda to adopt the proposed budget; final adoption requires at least 30 days after that proposed-adoption step.

Several programs in the package are explicitly contingent on receiving a proposed Ready to Learn block grant. The administration asked the board to commit Ready to Learn dollars to measures including: ensuring each school has a dedicated social worker and an attendance officer; continuing Communities and Schools programming at current levels; CKLA literacy materials for K–5; and a range of professional-development and screening tools. Dr. Brown said that maintaining Communities and Schools at its current level requires an additional $205,000, bringing the total student-services request from Ready to Learn to $615,000; he emphasized these items are “highlighted because it's contingent upon the confirmation of the anticipated funds.”

The budget proposes targeted increases in student supports and staffing: an additional $15,000 for athletic stipends to support a Unified cheer club (on top of last year’s $50,000), $15,000 for SEL and mental-health leadership programming (bringing the multi-year total to about $65,000 including prior funding), $90,000 to sustain two Family First Health Behavior Associate positions after a grant expired (the district funded the other half last year) and $10,000 to complete funding for a health-coordinator position (three positions total). Special-education needs include four additional classrooms for autistic-support students, additional paras, an access secretary to improve ACCESS billing accuracy (to be paid from ACCESS reimbursements) and expanded speech-pathology capacity.

Administration presented revenue assumptions that generally treat local, state and federal funding as level-funded for planning purposes and showed five-year projections through 2030–31 prepared with PFM; the presentation highlighted top cost drivers (salaries ~ $71 million, charter tuition ~ $38.1 million) and cautioned the board may need to tighten expenditures in later years. Dr. Brown noted the district had previously passed an opt-out resolution to not raise taxes above the Act 1 index and said administration does not intend to raise millage for 2026–27.

Next steps: the administration asked the board to place a resolution on next week’s meeting agenda to adopt the proposed budget; the transcript records that a resolution will be placed on the agenda. The final budget will require at least 30 days after proposed adoption before a vote can occur. Administration offered to meet with board members between meetings to answer follow-up questions about five-year projections, top cost drivers and Ready to Learn contingencies.

Details sourced from the committee presentation and Q&A. Numbers and program names are reported as presented by district staff; Ready to Learn funding was described as "proposed" and not yet confirmed.