Gettysburg Area School District Superintendent Jason Perrin said the district has found a way to reduce another $1.2 million in spending for the 2021-22 school year over the past two weeks. He said the cuts were difficult to find but had been accomplished without impacting student programming.
The proposed budget will keep the minimum unassigned fund balance allowed by state law (6 percent) and will require a tax increase of 1.3 percent.
Because the borough currently has access to about $8 million from U.S. Department of Education funds administered by the state as the Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program, the proposed budget of about $69,223,000 has grown only a little over $200,000 from last year.
Perrin said the ESSER funds will be divided over the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years and that the district should be prepared when the ESSER funds go away after that.
The 1.3 percent the tax increase means taxes on a $250,000 home would increase by about $37.
The board again said the increasing cost of charter schools was a continuing problem.
“If they could get charter school reform done it would be like ESSER didn’t go away,” said Perrin.
Perrin also said:
He expected to have a final budget by June 7.
District enrollment is expected to remain stable over the next years.
There had been some short-term school closures over the past weeks.
The next scheduled school board meeting will be on May 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Charles (Chuck) Stangor is Gettysburg Connection's Owner, Publisher, and Editor in Chief. I would like to hear from you. Please contact me at cstangor@gettysburgconnection.org.