ELCO board votes 7-2 on proposed 2026-27 budget with 4.2% tax increase

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The ELCO school board voted 7-2 to advertise the 2026-27 proposed final budget with a 4.2% tax increase at its meeting Monday, May 18.

Board members Ray Ondrusek and Bonnie Kantner voted no. Ondrusek said his vote was because the budget was not balanced.

If approved in June, the tax rate would increase from 18.8520 mills to 19.6437 mills, an increase of 0.7917 mills. Each 1% of millage increase represents $327,612 of new tax revenue for the district.

The average assessed value of a home in ELCO’s boundaries is $190,902. At that value, a 4.2% tax increase would increase the yearly tax bill by $151.14.

The budget, as available below and discussed during the meeting, shows $58,809,516 in anticipated expenditures and $58,358,681 in anticipated revenues. This leaves a budget deficit of $450,835 even with the maximum tax rate increase allowed with the district’s adjusted Act 1 Index.

This deficit is over $2 million less than where the budget started. A presentation by business manager Elaine Mathias said the initial gap between revenue and expenses was $2,561,818 at the beginning of February.

The decrease took months of work by district staff.

“That was accomplished by not replacing some positions through attrition, and also building and department budgets being reduced by an additional $297,000 over the 2025-26 budgets, as well as some additional revenue that helped to decrease the budget deficit,” Mathias said. 

Board president Rachel Moyer said after the meeting that there were no furloughs, but there are positions left open through retirement that the district will not fill at this time.

Mathias also went over the district’s state funding, which has lagged behind other Lebanon County school districts. Of the total 2026-27 Ready to Learn state funding, ELCO received $358,521 out of the county-wide $36,788,396. Lebanon School District, to compare, received over $20 million.

“It matters because if we do not receive additional state subsidies, then the needs that we have — additional expenses — all have to come from local sources,” Mathias said.

Moyer voted in favor of the proposed budget but said she disagreed with how public schools are funded in the state.

“To correct that, I would really call onto our state legislators to look into that and to be able to fix it,” she said after the meeting.

Mathias said major cost drivers in this budget include a 19.6% increase in cyber charter costs, a 15.7% increase in medical, dental, and vision, and $250,000 transfers to the capital reserve fund and to the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center’s planned building renovation.

The CTC cannot levy taxes itself, so it relies on funding from its six member school districts. The majority of districts across Lebanon are also considering tax increases due to the potential renovation.

ELCO is considering at least a 0.75% tax increase per year just to put funding toward the district’s share of costs.

During discussion, board members Jack Kahl and Howard Kramer said local municipalities need to bring in businesses, including sometimes-controversial warehouses, to fetch additional funding.

Fellow board member Megan Schaeffer said that every dollar cut from the budget is an experience cut for the students.

“I think that is sometimes something we miss when we’re talking about these massive dollars,” she said. “When we are talking about these massive cuts two years in a row, we have to remember that that directly translates to the children, so I’m hopeful that we can work together and continue to move forward and bring back experiences, and not just say, ‘Hey, they were cut. That’s it.’ But that takes real, significant planning and coordination and cooperation.”

Ondrusek agreed that the board wants students to have experiences, but they need to figure out how to get the funding to make it happen.

In other business, the school board:

• Approved all personnel, curriculum, policy, general services, and finance items outlined in the agenda.
• Voted to increase student school lunch prices for the 2026-27 school year by $0.15. Student breakfast will continue to be free, and adult prices will remain consistent.

The ELCO school board will have its next regular meeting on June 22 at 6 p.m. at 180 Elco Drive, Myerstown. People can also register to watch meetings over Zoom through the district website.