The Bensalem Township School District will lose more than 30 faculty members and administrators for the upcoming school year as the district works to balance its budget.
A total of 31 professional positions are being eliminated for the 2026-27 school year, including nine administrative positions and over 20 elementary teachers, librarians, guidance counselors and special education teachers, according to a draft resolution that the school board is expected to vote on at the April 22 meeting.
The board has been scrambling since January to address significant budget overruns and fill a nearly $12 million budget shortfall.
Leasing out the Bensalem Township School District’s administration building is just one of the wide range of options that the school board is considering to fill a nearly $12 million budget deficit.
In addition to personnel cuts, the board is also hoping to reduce the deficit through bond restructuring, debt service reduction and more changes.
The savings from planned cuts from within the Bensalem Township Education Association, the union that represents the district’s teachers, guidance counselors and nurses, are expected to total around $2.5 million, according to an April 21 budget presentation from John Steffy, the district’s head of business operations.
Additional cuts from the Educational Support Staff Association, the union for district support staff, will generate another $206,403 in savings for the school district.
Staff reductions from the district’s custodial and maintenance department will generate an additional $423,224 in savings while secretarial cuts will save $378,196.
As the board works to fill the remaining budget gap, any further personnel cuts are unlikely, according to board members during the budget workshop.
“I personally have no appetite for adding any more people to how we close this [budget gap,]” said school board director Leann Hart. “If you’re going to spend time looking for places to reduce costs to get us where we need to be for this budget we need to look beyond people.”
Instead, the district will further look into potential savings from things like leasing out the administration building, installing solar panels, changing the transportation policy, reducing software and technology purchases and more.
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Upper Moreland players congratulate each other against Lower Moreland during a Suburban One League Freedom baseball game in Willow Grove on April 20, 2026. UM prevailed 7-0.
“It has to be structural at this point,” Interim Superintendent Victoria Velazquez said. “It cannot be on the backs of people at this point, or positions.”
Here’s a full list of the positions being eliminated for the 2026-27 school year:
2nd Grade Teacher at Benjamin Rush Elementary
2nd Grade Teacher at Samuel K. Faust Elementary
3rd Grade Teacher at Benjamin Rush Elementary
5th Grade Teacher at Benjamin Rush Elementary
Secondary Librarian at Bensalem High School
Middle Level Special Education Teacher at Robert K. Shafer Middle School
Two Secondary Special Education Teachers at Bensalem High School
Two Secondary English Language Development Teachers at Bensalem High School
Secondary Science Teacher at Bensalem High School
Secondary Physical Education Teacher at Bensalem High School
Secondary Math Teacher at Bensalem High School
Two Secondary English Language Arts Teachers at Bensalem High School
Secondary Art Teacher at Bensalem High School
Secondary World Language Teacher at Bensalem High School
Elementary English Language Development Teacher at Samuel K. Faust Elementary
Elementary English Language Development Teacher at Russell C. Struble Elementary
Floating Elementary Counselor
Three Elementary Assistant Principals
One Supervisor of English Language Arts/Humanities
One Supervisor of Pupil/Personnel Services
One Director of Information Technology
One Human Resources Manager
One Maintenance Coordinator
One Conflict Resolution Coordinator
Lacey Latch is the development reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer. She can be reached at LLatch@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bensalem schools to cut teachers, counselor jobs amid budget crisis