When: Eastern York school board meeting, April 16.
What happened: Around a dozen teachers, school support staff and community members attended the meeting to voice concerns over possible budget cuts.
By the numbers: Based on the budget discussion during the April 10 operations committee meeting, the district’s budget is a little more than $54 million for the 2024-25 school year. If changes are not made, the district will have a $4.6 million deficit.
Background: Board President Doug Bailey explained how the budget got to this point. He said the school district lost the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, also known as ESSER. This was a $190 billion program created by the federal government’s economic stimulus response bills. Eastern York received $2.3 million from that program.
More: In addition to losing funds, the district also faced a $1 million increase in cybercharter school tuition, an $800,000 increase in health insurance, an $800,000 increase in salaries and a $300,000 increase in transportation.
Possible solutions: Bailey said that 64.2% of the district’s budget is funded through local efforts, so the board doesn’t have many options for increasing revenue. The administration recommended a 4% tax increase, but that would still leave a deficit of $3.4 million. The board is looking to cut $1.5 million dollars out of the budget, which could mean cutting funding to programs or decreasing staff.
Quotable: “The last thing I would ever cut is any money going towards my children’s education and the education of the other students,” said a parent during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Response: “I can tell you this nobody up here wants to cut teachers or staff,” board member Richard Zepp replied. “The difficulty is nobody wants to raise taxes either so you got to go through this process.”
Public comment: A resident of Hellam Township asked the board if it planned to partner with the Independence Law Center, a controversial, “religious liberty law firm.”
Quotable: “I sincerely hope that if we are talking about a million and a half in cuts, that the proposal to have the Independence Law Center come into the district is off the table,” he said.
Board response: The board did not respond to his statement at the meeting, but Bailey did respond in an email.
Quotable: “At this time we have no plans to partner with Independence Law Center. We are currently working on our budget in the coming weeks,” he said.
What’s next: Discussions about cuts will continue at the May 14 operations committee meeting, but Bailey said in an email that the board does not anticipate passing a budget until June.
