Palmyra school board hears reports on several rising 2026-27 budget requests

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The Palmyra school board heard reports on various budget requests for the 2026-27 school year during the March 12 meeting, with most of those budgets including increases to keep up with rising costs.

The budget discussions for technology, curriculum, buildings and grounds, support services, and transportation took place during the finance committee meeting after the regular board meeting. Superintendent Bernie Kepler said the next meeting will include requested budgets for each school in the district, special education, and athletics.

He said about 67% of the district’s spending is for salaries and benefits, and that amount will be determined when ongoing contract negotiations conclude.

The technology budget was the only one presented on Thursday that showed a projected decrease in spending — $1.48 million in 2025-26 down to $1.36 million in 2026-27, a decrease of 7.84%.

One factor for the budget coming in lower than last year, according to senior director of technology Kim-Kathie Knudsen, is that the middle school’s iPads will finish their three-year lease with remaining life left, so the district will utilize them for a fourth year.

Holding onto technology and proactive replacement and maintenance will help offset price increases throughout the tech budget, including a 425% increase for IT software due to additional cybersecurity products and licenses.

The curriculum budget presented to the board showed a 2.88% increase from $297,650 in 2025-26 to $306,218 in 2026-27. The only change in the new school year came from an $8,568 increase for the director of curriculum.

The buildings and grounds proposed budget showed expenses going from $2,396,171 in 2025-26 to $2,569,011 in 2026-27, for a 7.21% increase. Several line items were affected by rising contracted costs.

Supplies and equipment could see a 14.25% increase to $394,000 due to increasing maintenance and upkeep costs. Part of those growing expenses, according to supervisor of buildings and grounds Heath Dresch, is due to the under-construction administration building.

The support services budget showed a 1.4% increase from $12,580,658 to $12,756,835. It includes a 1% increase, or about $390,000, to the CTC tuition and cyber charter line to cover incoming debt related to the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center, which is considering renovations.

The CTC cannot levy taxes itself, so it relies on the county’s school districts for funding.

Lastly, the proposed transportation budget shows a 9.13%, or $254,490, increase in the new school year. Special transportation is expected to decrease, but regular transportation is expected to rise by 20.87% to account for a higher number of vehicles and more expensive fuel costs.

“It’s still early,” Kepler said after the meeting. “The state revenue is such a wild card. That’s really the change agent of where we’ll be at the end of the budget process.”

He said major factors in the budget include the CTC project, the teacher contract, and potential high school renovations. The district is considering a 1% tax increase just to start setting aside money for the CTC, Kepler said.

In other business, the school board:

• Approved all finance committee action items. One of the motions was to approve the 2025-26 Intermediate Unit 13 IDEA Part B and Section 619 Agreements with a total amount of $786,224.
• Approved all staffing and administration committee action items.

The Palmyra school board will meet next at Lingle Avenue Elementary School on March 26 at 6 p.m. Meetings can also be attended via Zoom.