Another year, another budget deficit to overcome for Freeport Area school officials

Freeport Area School District officials face budget deficits seemingly every year, and 2023-24 is no different.

District Business Manager Brad Walker delivered a preliminary projection of a $500,000 deficit to the board this week as the directors prepare to make budget decisions over the next two months.

Walker, Superintendent Ian Magness and board President Adam Toncini all emphasized that the data Walker presented is preliminary.

“Obviously, none of this has been approved,” Toncini cautioned, referring to Walker’s PowerPoint presentation. “All of the figures you see are just projections. That was not the public presentation we are required to give.”

Walker said he made the presentation as part of his monthly report strictly for the board’s benefit as a precursor to budget discussions. Magness said he instructed Walker to give the presentation for that purpose.

“All the data we presented wasn’t even the preliminary data we’ll present next month,” Walker said.

The district, operating on a current budget of about $36.2 million, continues to accumulate data on expenditures and revenues as it heads to the close of the fiscal year June 30.

The projected budget for next school year, at this point, is about $37.4 million, he said.

“We’re going to be making tweaks in the next month or two,” Walker said.

A major financial boost for the district could be in the offing if Gov. Josh Shapiro’s funding proposal for education is approved by the Legislature.

According to Walker, the district budgets for about a 1% increase in education funding. Right now, that would be a total subsidy of $7.46 million.

If Shapiro’s proposal is approved, he said the preliminary deficit projection vanishes.

“We could make ourselves whole if that comes to fruition,” Walker said.

Regardless, he said, district officials will continue to do their annual due diligence in reducing expenditures across the district’s departments. He said the district’s departments have not received an increase in their budgets for multiple years.

Magness pointed out to the board that the five-year district budget projection put together by Walker last year appears to be on target.

“We are within $40,000 of what our budget projection was for this year,” Magness said. “To be within $40,000 out of a $36 million budget, that’s impressive.”

“(The budget is) really tight as that $40,000 goes to show you, and it also shows we’ve held our people accountable for their budgets.”