District finance staff summarized Governor Josh Shapiro's Feb. 4 state budget proposal and projected local impacts for Boyertown Area School District, emphasizing that the figures are preliminary and subject to change in Harrisburg negotiations.

Miss Denicola (staff member, finance) said Shapiro proposed a $75 million statewide increase for basic education (to about $8.2 billion total) and a $40 million increase for special education (to about $1.5 billion). The governor also proposed $526 million more for the adequacy supplemental, $100 million for school safety and security grants, $125 million for public school facilities improvement grants and new homestead/farmstead property tax relief funding of $120 million. Denicola noted the budget contained no appropriation for cyber charter tuition reimbursement next year.

Locally, Denicola reported the district's projected share of basic education funding for 2025'26 is $19,259,556, an increase of $155,411 from the current year. Special education funding for that year is projected at $5,248,260, an increase of $122,865. Ready-to-Learn Block Grant projections total $2,226,614, a $1,449,781 increase over the current year; the readiness "adequacy supplement" component is estimated at $1,449,817 (a $373 increase).

Denicola cautioned that special education remains substantially underfunded relative to district expenditures; the district's special-education expenses were reported at $26,684,429 in 202324 and $25,002,861 in 202223, demonstrating that state aid covers only a small portion of total special-education costs. She also reiterated the loss of cyber-charter reimbursement (about $425,000 this year) would reduce local revenue absent a legislative change.

Denicola and board members said the numbers are illustrative; the administration will continue to update the board as Harrisburg negotiations and final appropriations evolve.