Lehighton Area School District officials presented preliminary staffing costs and budget projections for the upcoming 2025-26 school year, revealing potential overbudgeting in the current year.

According to a presentation at Monday night’s workshop meeting, staffing costs typically constitute between 60% and 70% of total expenditures in public schools. The district provided an overview of projected personnel expenses, showing a decrease in estimated costs for the next fiscal year compared to the current budgeted figures.

“What you see budgeted for the current fiscal year, 2024-25, is $31,591,401, which represented an 8.2% increase from the 2023-24 actual costs,” Superintendent Jason Moser said. “However, the projected 2025-26 budget, assuming all positions remain filled and adjusted for anticipated raises, actually reflects a decrease of 2.52%.”

Officials acknowledged that the figures suggest an overbudgeting of approximately $1.2 million in the current school year’s staffing costs.

“It’s very possible that our temporary business administrator may have overestimated costs out of caution,” director Jeremy Glaush said.

Some directors expressed concern about how such a significant discrepancy occurred.

“How did we make such a huge mistake in overestimating the cost for the current year’s budget? Should we be looking at a way to get some of this back to the taxpayers?” board member Duane Dellecker asked.

Another key factor in staffing projections involves retirements and new hires. The budget calculations assume all positions remain filled, but retirements and attrition could reduce costs.

“If you have a whole lot of retirements and you’re hiring at the bottom of the salary schedule, that can bring costs down,” Moser said. “Other than that, personnel budgets don’t go down.”

Staffing needs in the elementary center were also discussed, with an emphasis on reallocating resources rather than adding new positions.

“We are understaffed at the elementary center,” Moser added.

“If we have classrooms of 26 first graders, additional support is needed,” a district representative stated. “Reallocating existing positions may be the best approach rather than increasing the overall number of staff. We are working through a staffing plan. We will have more information as we work through and that could come as early as next month.”

The district is currently anticipating a nearly 9% increase in medical insurance costs, Moser said regarding the 2025-26 budget.

Officials said the district plans to revisit the budget projections in upcoming meetings to determine if any adjustments can be made before finalizing the 2025-26 budget.