AC Valley board hears stark budget picture; tables decision on tax increase as members seek concrete numbers

The Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District board spent the bulk of its meeting reviewing a preliminary 2024–25 budget and deferred action on any tax increase until it receives more specific numbers from the business office.

Business manager presented staffing changes and revenue projections that the district said will shape decisions this spring, including restoring two teachers from federal funding shifts, adding a principal for the WEST 2 program, and recommending a director of education position for curriculum/succession planning. The district reported rising costs for health care (projected +9.22%) and continued heavy expenditures on outside placements and cyber-school tuition. The presentation included hypothetical per-student outside-placement figures: roughly $19,000 for a general-education student placed out-of-district and about $44,000 for a student with a disability; with 36 students in outside placements those costs can total well over $1 million in some scenarios.

Board members pressed for clearer numbers and for an evidence-based proposal before agreeing to raise local taxes. The business office said it would produce concrete scenarios by the end of the month showing how different tax-rate choices (including partial increases) would affect a balanced budget. In the discussion, the business manager urged members to contact state legislators and noted two possible sources of relief being discussed in Harrisburg: a governor-backed budget proposal and House Bill 1422 (a separate proposal discussed as one possible mechanism to reduce local outlays for outside placements).

Because multi-county districts are subject to a rebalancing formula that can raise taxes in some counties while lowering them in others, board members described that complexity as a driver of caution. At the end of the discussion the board voted to table any decision on raising taxes and requested the additional month of analysis before taking formal action.

The board later approved a budget resolution presented in the packet and signed paperwork for the record; the packet listed an overall figure of $303,115,531, which board members indicated was the working document for record-keeping and further refinement. The business office said the number is a preliminary working total and that final adoption and public display will follow the budget timeline.

Next steps: staff will provide detailed revenue/expenditure scenarios by month-end; the board will readdress a possible tax-rate decision at the next meeting once staff supplies the requested scenarios.