Reductions in the district budget have been proposed for the 2026-2027 school year.
There were several proposed adjustments at April’s budget meeting, including a reduction in staffing and bus routes. In terms of staffing, 13 professional positions will be removed and seven support staff positions will be removed.
Chief financial and operations officer Susan Green plans for all of the mentioned positions to be removed through resignation or retirement.
“[The positions] really impact district-wide,” Green said. “We are looking at class sizes and enrollment to determine the best places to take those. Plus, we reduce staff, if at all possible, via attrition, which means if a teacher or a support staff person leaves for retirement, resignation… then we look at those places where we wouldn’t fill versus people losing their job. We don’t anticipate anyone’s going to lose their job.”
In light of the proposed changes, administrators are looking for ways to lower the impact of changes for both students and staff.
“We can’t say there won’t be any impact,” Green said. “Might be slightly larger class sizes in areas. There might be fewer offerings. So if a class at the high school, for instance, only has six or eight children signed up for it, we may not run that class.”
One of the ways the impact budget reductions are counteracted is through tax increases; however, the district understands that taxpayers
may not desire to see increases. Southern York County School District has only had three tax increases in the past 10 years, and has the lowest rates out of all the nearby districts. The second lowest tax rate found nearby is in Southeastern School District.
“I think we do respect and support the taxpayer based on the decisions that we’ve made over the years,” Green said. “I’ve been here for 19 years. I think it speaks for itself that we’re not just raising taxes all the time.”
Throughout the budget-planning process, financial staff review and evaluate the different components of revenue and expenditures while ensuring enough is allocated for the year’s use.
“We don’t want to get ourselves in not having enough budgeted and that we overspend the budget,” Green said. “I know there’s some local districts that overspend their budget. That’s a bad financial practice to overspend your budget, and then you will get into a financial hardship, and we will need a tax increase just to stay afloat.”
While student enrollment has declined over the past 10 years, the amount of staffing has remained roughly the same. Each year, one of the main steps in the budget process is determining the staff needed. Class size and impacts on students are two areas where attention is directed. Assistant Superintendent Len Reppert is involved with anticipating the impact of budget reductions.
“…we know that at our elementary, our average class size, which was reported at our last board meeting, will be about 21 students, which is still below the average class size of 25, which is board requirement,” Reppert said.
Reppert feels that, despite staffing reductions, the district will be able to continue supplying quality education in a quality environment. In the lens of the High Reliability Schools framework, he believes staff are equipped to handle upcoming challenges.
“We have spent the last five years as a district through our initial research identification of HRS and then our rollout of HRS throughout the district to really take a look at creating a system that creates a common language throughout our district,” Reppert said. “So for our staff
members that are within our district over the last few years, that has become part of the framework, day in and day out… We have a safe, supportive, and collaborative environment, really focusing on what those needs are.”
In response to three bus routes being removed, ways to balance capacity and effectiveness are being evaluated with the number of assigned passengers increasing on some buses, Reppert believes that varying student circumstances will help to reduce congestion.
“We have several 84-passenger buses,” Reppert said. “We currently do not have 84 students that are on those buses, so we’re able to now take a better look at how we’re utilizing our bus routes… Throughout the school year, our students do participate in sporting events, sporting activities through our fall, winter, and spring. Those students do have a bus assignment, as well as our 11th and 12th graders who might have driving privileges. They still have a bus assignment in case they do not have that.”
Reppert has confidence that those involved with navigating budget reductions will remain committed to supporting students and staff.
“We’ve had a lot of stakeholder involvement in the discussions, and I know moving forward, our district will be doing everything we can to continue to provide outstanding educational opportunities for our students, not only academically, but also through the other opportunities they can participate in,” Reppert said.
