T/E School Board Leaves Door Open on Tax Hike

Update as of Tuesday at 11:30am: The Tredyffrin Easttown School District has now posted the most up-to-date budget numbers and full minutes from Monday night's meeting. They are available on the T/E District website.

The Tredyffrin Easttown School Board is leaving its options open on new taxes for the 2013-2014 school year.

During a largely procedural, but important to the process, special meeting Monday night Board members voted to leave open the option to ask the state to permit an exception to the current 1.7 percent cap on new school taxes for the 2013-2014 school year.

The district is still projecting a deficit of $1,575,000 even with a state-permitted tax increase of up to 1.7 percent.

That number can - and will- change by the time the board votes on a final 2013-2014 school year budget in June. Under state law, local school districts are required to have balanced budgets each year.

The currently unanswered question is how to get to that balanced budget.

There are several options that are being considered, as they are every year at this stage of the budget process.

One of those options is for the T/E School District to ask for an exception to the 1.7% cap. Figures that are expected to be posted on the district's website Tuesday indicate that as of now, the exception if approved and implemented, would bring the projected $1,575,000 deficit down to $1,297,513.

The board's vote on Monday night does not mean that there will definitely be a tax increase for the next school year. It means that the board is simply exercising its option to leave the possibility open.

The state requires local school districts to make a decision by the end of January as to whether they will work within the state-mandated ceiling (T/E's is currently 1.7% but every district is different based on local financial conditions) or whether they will request an exception.

The T/E School Board will meet again on January 28 to take one more look at the budget projections before making a final decision on whether to seek the exception or not.

Monday night's vote simply keeps the options open.