BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA — Bensalem school directors are questioning what took the school administration so long to state that the district was in a “severe financial situation.”

A Bensalem Township School Board committee will hold a public question and answer session on Tuesday night to try to provide residents answers to residents going into the school budget season.

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School board members said they face a $15-16 million deficit with no tax increase.

School board members are projecting an 8.2 percent tax increase, which would be above the Act 1 index. A meeting to address the Act 1 index is scheduled for Feb. 18, but officials said that doesn’t mean taxes will be raised by that percentage.

School Board Vice President Stephanie Gonzalez Ferrandez told Patch that Schools Superintendent Samuel Lee informed the school board on Dec. 10 that the school district was in a “severe financial situation,” 10 days after the Democratic-controlled school board took over.

“This was news to the members who had been on the board previously,” Ferrandez said. “We do not know why the information was not conveyed to the prior board when it was learned in September.”

Ferrandez said the new board “is doing our best to tackle the situation.”

“We will do our best to answer questions about what we know so far as we try to be mindful of taxes and also not slash programs given this situation we have been handed,” she said.

“Over the past decade, inadequate oversight allowed district savings to be depleted,” School Director Rebecca Mirra said to Patch. “What appeared to be a recent surplus was actually temporary COVID relief funding, which has now run out. Because of the prior board (GOP) majority’s lack of transparency and planning, the new board is facing this financial crisis.”

School Director Leann Hart said she attended a Jan. 16 Bucks County Intermediate Unit legislative breakfast attended by school board members from the 13 districts that make up the IU and local legislators.

Hart said, though, that State Rep. Kathleen “KC” Tomlinson and State Sen. Frank Farry did not attend.

“As I looked around the room, one thing became painfully clear: Bensalem appeared to be the only district without anyone from our state representative’s office in attendance,” Hart said. “It was disheartening to sit among districts whose legislators took the time to show up for them, while ours did not. This matters because the problems driving our budget are not things a school board can simply ‘manage better.'”

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it: the financial situation in Bensalem School District is not good,” Hart said.

Lee commented on the financial crisis in a statement sent to Patch on Tuesday afternoon.

“Our district is facing a significant budget shortfall driven largely by rising special education costs and ongoing charter school funding obligations — expenses that are mandated and largely outside of the district’s direct control,” Lee said. “While these pressures create difficult financial challenges, our commitment to supporting students and maintaining high-quality educational programs remains unwavering. We are carefully reviewing all expenditures, advocating for fair and sustainable funding solutions, and working closely with the Board of School Directors to make thoughtful, responsible decisions that protect our students, staff, and community both now and in the future.”

School Director Rachel Fingles told Patch that since 2021, 70 percent of all tax increases have gone to fund only increases in charter school special education costs.

“Our representation in Harrisburg is failing our community by not advocating for charter school law reform, and they are the reason Bensalem taxpayers are in this position now,” Fingles said.

Hart said that in recent years, Bensalem’s charter school special education costs have grown beyond “what anyone could have reasonably predicted.”

She said the number of students attending charter schools has not changed significantly, but the number of students receiving special education services has increased by nearly 360 percent since 2022.

“I won’t speculate about why that is,” Hart said. “But if you care about your local tax bill, you need to start paying attention to the role your state representative and state senator play in determining it. This isn’t about school choice. This isn’t about the quality of education any charter school provides. This is about the way that funding is determined — and the unsustainable burden it places on local taxpayers.”

‘Severe Financial Situation’ Revealed For Bensalem Schools originally appeared on the Bensalem Patch