BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Bethlehem Area School Board approved a preliminary budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Board members signed off shifting about $7 million from its fund balance, a kind of savings account, to cover its current shortfall.
- Bethlehem Area School District approved dipping in to reserves to cover a nearly $7 million deficit
- It's currently expecting about $6.55 million in new state funding
- State lawmakers could still include additional educational money, like increased Level Up dollars
The board has decided not to raise taxes this year, although it still has to vote next month on a final budget. It currently has about $21 million in its fund balance.
The district will get $6.55 million in new state dollars under the governor's proposed fiscal budget.
It's expecting about $52 million in basic education funding, which is $5.4 million more than, or an 11.6% increase from, last year. It will see about $10 million in special education funding, which is $874,204 more, or a 9.5% boost, and it will receive $259,515 more in mental health money. School districts are waiting to see what state lawmakers will agree to appropriate.
The budget presentation identifies revenue at nearly $333.3 million and expenses at about $339.3 million.
Bethlehem officials reduced anticipated costs by $1 million, but they also retained staffing positions, including 15 instructional and behavior coaches the district hired using one-time grants, for a total of $1.7 million.
"And I think this is why we've been in a good point, budget-wise over the last number of years. That's been around where we've been."BASD Superintendent Joe Roy
Retiring schools Superintendent Joseph Roy said the total spending rise in the budget was just under 3%.
"And I think this is why we've been in a good point, budget-wise over the last number of years," he said. "That's been around where we've been."
Harry Aristakesian, the district's chief financial officer, said officials are still waiting to see if lawmakers will include any new Level Up funding to school districts. Level Up funding, which was created by Gov. Tom Wolf in 2021 to go to the 100 poorest school districts, would stay at current amounts.
Roy also said that while the district doesn't expect the number of charter school students to rise dramatically, those related expenses will go up 7.6%.
"This is to show how the way the tuition is calculated that in our overall budget goes up, they get a bigger piece of that," he said. "Regardless of what their expenses are."
School board members are scheduled to vote on the district's final budget on June 19.
