As Easton Area School District works out budget challenges, its leaders are simultaneously planning to construct a new high school.
The school board is grappling with whether the $300 million high school plan is financially feasible.
“How comfortable are we with the idea that the high school project is still going to cost under $300 million, given the current economic situation that we find ourselves in?” Board member Meg Sayago asked the board.
During its April 29 meeting, Chief Financial Officer Jack Trent presented an update on the proposed 2025-26 budget. A $7.4 million deficit projected in March has been reduced due to several factors.
The district offered a retirement incentive, which 24 teachers accepted. Ten other staff members are retiring without the incentive.
These retiring employees earn more than it will cost to pay new hires, which could save the district around $2.3 million.
Contract reviews, insurance savings and selling district assets could also help close the deficit.
The proposed budget sits at $216,880,086, with revenue at $214,885,531. This puts the deficit at $1,994,555.
To balance the budget and fund the high school project, the district is recommending a 3.5% property tax increase. Of that, 2% would cover operating expenses, while the additional 1.5% would be reserved to fund the future high school and other capital projects.
This would increase the millage rate from 69.7 to 72.2. Millage rates are set by the school district to determine the amount of property taxes they collect. For example, one mill is one dollar per $1,000 dollars of assessed property value.
“If we want to be on the timeline that we currently have set, that’s the reason that we are raising the millage rate now,” Trent said.
A Diagram shows a potential location for a new Easton Area High School location, as presented in January 2025, which would sit on the corner of 25th St. and Route 22.Courtesy of Alloy 5 Architecture
The district will utilize a cascading debt service where bonds are added gradually over several years, which helps limit the impact of bond costs. The plan is to build up savings, so that when an old bond falls off, they can replace it with a new one for the high school without causing a significant tax increase in the future.
Board member Brian Snyder questioned the scope of the proposed building.
“Our enrollment has been projected to go down at the high school,” Snyder said. “I don’t know if we need a high school as big as initially projected.”
Superintendent Tracy Piazza said money has already been spent on the design. She said the longer they put off a new high school, the more associated costs will rise due to economic changes.
She said plans are being shaped not just by enrollment projections, but by a vision of modernized public education that includes hybrid schedules, shared learning spaces and multi-use facilities.
“The challenge is to design something for the future when you’re not quite all the way there,” Piazza said.
Superintendent of District Operations & Services Josh Ziatyk said recent revisions to the design bring down the square footage, and a presentation will occur in May with those updates.
“It’s a lot of money for homeowners to have to pay, but that school needs to be replaced, no matter how we look at it,” board member Susan Hartranft-Bittinger said.
Board President Jodi Hess expressed strong support for the project, citing an outdated and inefficient building.
“The amount of money we would be putting into that building to patch it up even more is unfortunately a waste,” she said.
So far, the board has voted on a location for the new high school, but plans haven’t been approved yet. Trent said the next step of the budget is to present it to the district’s finance committee on May 13.
Chelsea McClure can be reached at cmcclure@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on instagram at @chelsealehighvalley.