Budget forum shows tough decisions ahead for Lancaster SD

Leaders in the School District of Lancaster painted a stark picture of growing budget deficits and outlined the difficult decisions needed to make ends meet at a community budget forum at Lincoln Middle School Tuesday night.

More than 150 district residents filled the board room, spilling into the cafeteria which was opened to accommodate the crowd. Teachers and staff were among those gathered.

“I think it’s overwhelming,” adding “There are a lot of tough decisions for the administrative team,” J.P. McCaskey High School teacher Abigale Comp-Lewis said.

Superintendent Dr. Keith Miles delivered a presentation detailing the current $10 million deficit and projected deficits ballooning to $27.5 million by 2027.

“It’s essential we take bold action now,” he said. “Everything is on the table.”

The school board voted previously to pass a resolution which would allow for furloughs of more than 100 teachers and staff. No final decision has been made, but administrators proposed cuts to personnel and programs.

They include eliminating sixteen middle school positions and five elementary school jobs, along with nine middle school world language teachers. Interventionist and special education positions as well as library specialists could also be cut. Some administrative positions will also be on the chopping block.

“There could be retirement incentives,” to reduce staffing, along with attrition and unfilled vacancies, Miles suggested.

Department heads proposed cuts to non-instructional academic programs such as a STEM fair as well as after-school care busing, \printing of the student handbook, and field trips. Events could be moved from the Convention Center back to the high school.

“We have our work cut out for us,” board member Kareena Rios said. “It’s going to be hard.”

The meeting opened with a financial review of the deficit led by Dr. Tim Shrom of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. The review was initiated in part due to a computer accounting error which failed to account for about $8 million in salaries and benefits for 83 teachers and staff members during the 2024-25 school budget year.

“There’s no way to trace exactly how it happened,” Shrom said of the error, “but if it had been detected earlier, the board would have had the information to react sooner.”

He said the district “relied too heavily on a single software projection tool without enough crosschecks.”

District leaders say new processes are now in place to prevent that type of costly mistake from happening again.

Shrom also cited “a perfect storm” of other factors for creating the school district’s financial problems. He cited the running out of pandemic era funding, rising health care costs, declining enrollment, the loss of two key business office staff members, and a limited tax base.

“The software module projector was not the single root cause of creating a deficit situation, but it hid information from the doard and delayed action to mitigate expenditures and adjust to actual revenue,” Shrom added. “It’s unfortunate.”

School Board President Jennifer Eaton described the challenging task of tackling the growing budget deficits.

“The path forward will require difficult but necessary decisions,” she said. 

Following the meeting, board members and administrators met with residents to answer questions.

Former student and family resource specialist Angie Sollenberger expressed her concerns.

“I’m worried we’re not meeting student needs,” she said, pointing to the growing number of students in special education programs and the shrinking number of counselors and social workers.

Superintendent Miles said student interests will take priority in the decision-making process but acknowledged, ”Every cut is painful.”

Barbara Barr is a former reporter for WGAL in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna Valley where she led political coverage that earned a Walter Cronkite Award.