Greensburg Salem School Board looks to hold line on taxes, continue free high school meals

Greensburg Salem School Board is expected to vote Wednesday on a proposed 2022-23 district budget that would support about $49.1 million in planned expenses without raising taxes.

To cover that spending, which reflects a 2% increase from this school year, the district might have to pull more than $658,000 from its fund balance. That’s about $33,000 less than the amount tapped this year from the fund balance, which sits at about $6.6 million.

With the school property tax remaining at 89.72 mills, local revenue is projected to decrease by nearly $50,000, to $25.1 million. Federal revenue is expected to rise by about $754,00, to more than $3.2 million, while state revenue could see an increase of nearly $407,000, to about $20.1 million.

“There are still a lot of question marks, especially with the state funding,” Superintendent Ken Bissell said during the budget presentation at this week’s school board meeting.

Business manager Joan Wehner said the proposed budget assumes a worst-case scenario of no increase in state subsidies for basic education or special education because officials in Harrisburg haven’t decided on that funding for next year.

“We do not know our state funding at this time,” she said. “That could change.”

Greensburg Salem is continuing to see a multiyear boost in federal funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program that is meant to help schools and students recover from educational disruptions during the covid-19 pandemic.

Bissell said the district has until Sept. 30, 2024, to spend $7.7 million remaining in its ESSER allotment.

Looking ahead, he said, “My biggest concern is for 2024-25. The ESSER funds help us now, but they will dry up that year, and our debt service will still be around $2.5 million.”

As noted by Wehner, the debt service on outstanding bonds from 2020 is expected to fall off to about $1 million the following year.

Bissell said ESSER funding is being relied upon in 2022-23 to cover all costs for substitute staffers as well as replenishing and upgrading technology for students and in classrooms.

Some of the other things those funds can cover, he said, include ongoing HVAC improvements, science lab equipment, furniture, mental health support for students and staff, and a summer program to help students who have fallen behind in learning.

School board members said they want the district to continue serving free meals to students at the high school next year after lunch fees were waived for them, as well as other Greensburg Salem students, during two years of the pandemic.

Board members reacted favorably to a report from contractor Nutrition Inc. indicating the district’s food service program has amassed a funding surplus of $407,000 this year.