BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA — The Bensalem School Board will discuss the school district’s “severe financial situation” during a special meeting on Wednesday night.
The school board will hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday to vote on whether to adopt the preliminary budget for the 2026-2027 school year.
Schools Superintendent Samuel Lee recently sent an email to the Bensalem school community stating that the district is facing “a significant budget shortfall” driven largely by rising special education costs and charter school funding obligations, expenses that are mandated and largely outside of our local control.
Eight of the school board’s nine members voted to request an exception to the state’s Act 1, which allows school districts to increase taxes up to 4.2 percent.
“If we need to go over that to cover special education costs, we are required to request an exception —and we must request it this month. That would allow us to go up to 8.2 percent. But we have not decided to go that far. We just voted to seek the flexibility, just in case,” School Board Vice President Stephanie Gonzalez Ferrandez recently told Patch.
She said the district’s business director is projecting a roughly $6 million deficit if the school board raises taxes 8.2 percent and cut no spending.If taxes are raised by 4.2 percent and no spending is cut, the school district would have a deficit of over $11 million.
Lee said that the proposed preliminary budget does not commit the district to a tax increase.
He said the action is a procedural step required by the state that allows the district to seek permission to exceed the State’s Act 1 limit on annual tax increases, should it become necessary to address rising costs.
“We are still early in the budget development process, and no decisions have been made at this time,” Lee said. “We are carefully reviewing all expenditures, advocating for fair and sustainable funding solutions, and working closely with our Board of School Directors to make thoughtful, responsible decisions that protect our students, staff, and community both now and in the future.”
Lee said that if any reductions become necessary, anyone impacted would hear directly from the school district.
The 2026-2027 proposed preliminary budget is available for public inspection through Feb. 18 at the Dorothy D. Call Administrative Center, 3000 Donallen Drive, Bensalem, during normal business hours. It is also available online at https://www.bensalemsd.org.