Panther Valley school board members don’t plan to raise taxes in the coming school year.

The school board voted 6-3 Wednesday night to approve a preliminary budget which would keep taxes at the same level as 2020-21.

The budget includes expenses totaling $34,436,313, including $3.4 million in budgetary reserve.

The budget for the 2020-21 school year was $28,267,928.

The district plans to use over $6 million in stimulus money from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund to balance the budget.

School officials said the district’s expenses for cyber charter school tuition increased significantly during the pandemic. The district also had health care costs which were higher than projected.

The current school property tax rate for Panther Valley residents in Carbon is 65.44 mills and in Schuylkill, 60.22. In both counties, the district has the highest rate.

Marco D’Ancona, William Mansberry and president Daniel Matika voted against the budget.

D’Ancona said he supported a 1.5-mill increase, and Mansberry a 0.5 increase.

“We are only getting ourselves deeper and deeper,” Mansberry said; “0.5 would be better than nothing.”

The school’s business manager, Jesse Walck, requested an increase of 2 mills, which board members did not support.

Walck said the stimulus funding is one-time, and the district won’t be able to count on it to balance the budget next year.

The board must approve its 2021-22 budget by June 30. Its next scheduled meeting is June 16.