Finances to be focus of 4 Pine-Richland School Board meetings as district faces $4.9M deficit

The financial future of the Pine-Richland School District, and what that means for students’ education and property owners’ tax bills, will be the subject of four upcoming meetings of the school board.

The meetings, scheduled for Sept. 15, Oct. 6 and 20, and Nov. 10, will each have a different, finance-related focus. They will all begin at 6 p.m. in the board meeting room at Pine-Richland High School.

With the district forecasting a $4.9 million deficit going into the 2026-27 school year, Superintendent Brian Miller encouraged staff members and the community to participate in what he said will be “difficult conversations.”

“We’re going to talk about a whole lot of things that directly connect — from finance and budget to how we deliver services, resources, support, even capital projects and capital funding,” he told the school board at its meeting Monday, Aug. 25. “We are going to need to have, and have the ability to have in this room, difficult conversations.”

The school board in June approved a $115.6 million budget for the 2025-26 school year that did not increase property taxes while having an $8.2 million deficit, consisting of $6.9 million for capital improvements and $1.2 million for operations.

Miller had urged the board to consider a 2.1% property tax increase, where up to 4% was possible.

For the next school year, the district’s state-imposed tax increase limit is forecast to be 3.6%, Miller said. A tax increase of that amount would bring in $2.3 million, leaving a $2.5 million deficit, he said.

The topics of each meeting will build on the one before it, Miller said. The meetings and their focuses will be:

• Sept 15: Staff services — personnel and program delivery.

• Oct. 6: Student services — program delivery for special education, gifted education and the multitiered system of support.

• Oct. 20: Buildings and grounds — capital projects, utilities and debt.

• Nov. 10: Operational services — transportation and tuition.

“It’s difficult to talk about programs or particular cuts without immediately talking about the ripple effect and impact that has on students,” Miller said. “We see that now in class size. The challenges we’re just on the tip of.”

Miller encouraged residents unable to attend the meetings to watch them online. The videos are available on the district’s YouTube channel.

Board member Marc Casciani encouraged residents to pay attention. He cited district survey results where the number of parents saying they closely monitor information about the budget development process has never broken 50% — 49% was the highest in the 2024-25 survey.

“There has never been a more challenging year than this year,” Casciani said, adding 2026-27 will be his 13th budget as a board member. “It’s going to be difficult.”