Photo by Emma Sylvester for The Lafayette

Approximately $5 million of the district’s revised budget will go to design and development costs for the new school.

The Easton Area School District announced its preliminary budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year at a March 27 school board meeting, revealing a deficit of at least $7 million and a possible tax increase for city residents. 

The budget, which is expected to be voted on by the board in May, includes $220 million in expenditures and factors in a 2% tax increase. District Chief Financial Officer Jack Trent recommended an additional 1.5% tax increase to accommodate capital projects, including a $300 million project to build a new high school that the district expects will open in 2031.  

“Over the past two years, our revenues have been less than our expenditures,” said Trent, who was hired as the chief financial officer last December. “I don’t know if I can speculate too much further on what went into that.”

Trent said that approximately $5 million of the district’s budget will go to design and development costs for the new school. The district expects construction to break ground in 2027.

Around two-thirds of the district’s expected revenue for the new fiscal year comes from local funds. Most of the remaining revenue is from the state, and exact numbers are subject to change before the end of the Pennsylvania fiscal year on June 30.

District Superintendent Tracy Piazza said at the meeting that the budget is also contingent on federal funding after President Donald Trump signed a March executive order to abolish the Department of Education. She explained that some of the money may be funneled away from the federal government into state-level funds. 

“We’re hopeful that we’ll still have some money that comes into the district over the next few years, but we cannot count on all those dollars yet,” Piazza said of the state and federal funding at the meeting. She could not be reached for comment. 

Trent also mentioned that deficits have expanded because of the loss of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, funds from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To offset the deficit, Trent said the district may review staffing needs, but he clarified the district will not look to cut any positions. He also added that the district is exploring possible healthcare buyouts, meaning staff members would receive payment to opt out of district-based health benefits.  

“They would have to prove they’re on a spouse’s benefits or a parent’s benefit or somebody else’s benefits,” Trent explained. “And I call it mutually beneficial because the amount of money they’re earning per year is going up ‘X’ amount of dollars. But also, we are reducing the number of people on our health insurance, which means we save money as well.”

A tax increase in the 2025-26 budget would mark the fifth consecutive year with a tax increase. The district called for and approved a $171.6 million budget that year at the peak of the pandemic, according to financial records. 

The 2025-26 budget calls for taking a further $6 million out of the district’s reserves or fund balance, meaning $42 million would be taken out of reserves since 2021, per district financial data.

“We’re trying to be as least intrusive as possible,” Trent said. “What we’re doing right now, we’re looking at things that won’t impact the education of the kids.”

Multiple Easton residents approached by The Lafayette declined to comment or were unaware of the school board’s new budget.

Trent expects to review the budget in front of the board in April and hopes for a final vote on the budget in May.