Exeter Township School District

Superintendent Dr. Christy Haller and Business Administrator Brian Feick presented a budget update that included expenditures to-date for the 2023-24 budget, along with some preliminary figures as they begin to craft the 2024-25 budget. Dr. Haller noted that, while the budget process is still in the very early stages, the district is looking to close an estimated $2.2 million budget gap that is due largely to employees’ annual salary increases per their contracts ($1.2 million) and an 12.3% increase in health insurance rates ($1.1 million).   

In an effort to close this gap, Dr. Haller noted that the district intends to not fill three teaching positions that will be vacated due to retirements and resignations. Additionally, she noted the district expects a slight reduction in the amount of money it will need to contribute to the state pension system. During the conversation, Mr. Feick reminded the board that the administration was upfront about a minimum 2.5% tax increase for the 2024-25 year during last year’s budget talks due to inflation and the rising costs of salaries, benefits, utilities and operational expenses. 

To help reduce a tax increase, Dr. Haller offered a variety of options that the board could consider, but strongly cautioned, “You don’t want to gut your school district.” The options presented to the board were:

• Eliminate the Firefighter Tax Credit
• Increase class sizes
• Eliminate 3-4 elementary instrumental music
• Eliminate 5-6 elementary instrumental music
• Eliminate JHS activities & clubs
• Eliminate JHS athletics
• Change the flat activity fee to a per activity fee
• Institute a graduation fee
• Eliminate the district subsidy for AP exams
• Eliminate Senior High clubs with fewer than 10 students
• Require boosters to purchase athletic uniforms
• Increase entrance fees to events
• Increase fees for facilities use for all community and outside groups
• Implement a fee for using fields
• Revisit alternative energy solutions to reduce utility costs

At the end of the presentation, Dr. Haller emphasized, “Again, all of these are just considerations for the board… We’re not saying we’re doing any of them or we’re not recommending any of them, but we’re saying, based upon the increased costs the district has incurred thus far, and not knowing where we are with the money we’re getting from the state and federal government, we are looking at approximately a $2 million gap.”

The administration and board will work together over the coming months to review options and finalize the budget for the 2024-25 school year by June 30th as required by law. These presentations and discussions will be held during board meetings, which the the public is welcome and encouraged to attend. 

During last night’s Board of School Directors meeting, Superintendent Dr. Christy Haller presented the current state of the district’s 2024-25 budget, discussed proactive steps the administration has already made to manage the budget deficit, and spoke about Governor Shapiro’s proposal to increase funding for public schools. In the presentation, Dr. Haller cited a study by the Pennsylvania School Board Association (PSBA) that found that unfunded state mandates, which are required programs, services and trainings that the state requires schools to provide, have increased by $6.2 billion during the last decade, while state funding for these programs has only increased by $2.2 billion, leaving local taxpayers with a $4 billion budget gap. These unfunded mandates, along with inflation, are the primary reasons why the district is currently looking to close a $2.4 million budget deficit for next year. In speaking about inflation, board president Jason Mell said, “We’re seeing still-high inflation, we have the county that just raised (taxes) 9%, we have the township that just raised (taxes) 20%. I don’t know why there’s this void here in the school district (where people believe) that somehow we’re unaffected by something that everyone else is.”

Dr. Haller spoke about proactive steps the administration has already taken to help manage this deficit, which are:

• Elimination of 3 positions through attrition
• Denied requests for additional staff
• Proactively purchased learning materials using remaining ESSER funds
• Researched and are in the process of applying for new grants
• Renegotiated professional service contracts

Dr. Haller expressed hope that the governor’s budget proposals would go through to help reduce the deficit. In particular, she cited how the proposal to reform non-district cyber charter tuition could help the district save more than $1 million annually by capping tuition for these students, who choose to go to a non-district cybercharter school, at $8,000. [The district currently pays $13,856 for regular ed students and $35,957 for special ed students (or a projected $2.11 million next year).]

In preparation for a final budget presentation in May, Dr. Haller said the administration will aggressively continue to look for budget cuts, which they will propose to the Board during the next meeting, which is scheduled for March 19th at 7PM in the Administration Building.

To view last month's presentation, as well as a FAQ about the budget, please click HERE.

During an update of the status of the budget, Dr. Christy Haller shared strategies the administration’s taken to reduce the budget deficit without impacting programs and services. To date, she highlighted that the administration has eliminated four teaching positions through attrition, reduced the technology budget, renegotiated professional service contracts, and have been actively researching and applying for new grants, among other steps to cut costs. However, Dr. Haller said that these steps alone will likely not close the budget gap without an anticipated tax increase. Citing a Pennsylvania School Board Association (PSBA) study, Dr. Haller shared that the state’s support and funding of public education is lacking, forcing local taxpayers to support local education and districts to make tough choices. According to the survey, 65.9% of districts are forced to raise taxes while 51.4% must draw from their fund balance to create a balanced budget–a practice that she said Exeter cannot do any longer as it had drawn nearly $16.5 million from the account since 2014. 

The administration will continue to present budget developments at upcoming board meetings to meet the May 31, 2024 deadline to present a proposed budget to the board and public for review.

The Administration presented the status of the 2024-25 budget, highlighting cuts and steps it has made during the last few months to reduce a potential tax increase from 5.7% to 3.25%. The administration will give an additional presentation at the next board meeting on May 8th to meet the state's May 31st deadline to present a proposed budget to the board and public for review. 

On slide #2, please click on the blue hover buttons to see additional content. 

The administration presented its 2024-25 budget, which includes a proposed 3.25% tax increase:

Additionally, the administration presented pathways that homeowners and senior citizens can apply for to reduce their property taxes:

The administration presented the state's final contribution to the 2024-25 budget