WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. – The Whitehall-Coplay School District Board of Directors on Monday night adopted the 2026-27 final budget which includes a tax increase on property owners.

The $107.1 million spending plan features a 4.7% property tax increase. The budget represents a 5.6% increase from the year previous. The 4.7% tax hike is the highest amount Whitehall-Coplay is permitted to raise taxes absent voter referendum, per the Act 1 Index.

This spring, Whitehall-Coplay attempted to address a roughly $6 million budget deficit in the district’s $110.7 million proposed 2026-27 spending plan. Superintendent Christopher Schiffert’s proposed budget, approved April 27, featured the 4.7% tax increase. At that meeting, he warned that the school district is in a precarious financial situation.

“We have reached a crossroads where our educational aspirations are being directly challenged by our fiscal reality,” Schiffert said April 27, prior to the proposed budget’s approval. “…The district is facing a significant budgetary shortfall.”

Schiffert said the reason for the deteriorated fiscal situation is “complex” and “multifaceted.”

“We are no longer have the luxury of making minor adjustments,” Schiffert previously said. “…We must consider a significant organizational restructuring.”

That organizational restructuring was unveiled the following month. On May 26, directors approved a reorganization plan including furloughed, reduced, demoted and eliminated staff positions. The proposal cut dozens of positions including a biology teaching position, multi-tiered systems supports math teaching position, three elementary STEM teaching positions, and a middle school STEM/industrial arts teaching position.

Whitehall-Coplay’s plan eliminated 12 secretarial positions — two from each of the five buildings and the education center. The resolution further indicates employee duties would be redistributed among the remaining staff and administration.

Additional cuts involved six paraprofessional positions due to program reductions. A maintenance position would also be axed, with the duties reallocated to maintenance staff. Still further cuts in the plan involved eight building substitute positions across the district. Finally, some district employees would be retained but demoted.

The job cuts and other measures decreased expenditures from the original proposed budget by $3.6 million. This reduced the shortfall from an original $9.3 million figure to a $5.6 million amount.

The cuts also reduce the amount spent from the Whitehall-Coplay fund balance, closing the remaining budget gap from $6.8 million on April 27 to $3.1 million. This amounts to a $3.6 million savings.

The property tax increase continues a district trend. The 2025-26 spending plan included a 4.6% tax increase on Whitehall-Coplay property owners. The district’s 2024-25 budget featured a 4.5%, tax increase, with the 2023-24 spending plan containing a 2.59% tax hike.

Administrator pay raises

Two measures to provide pay increases for administrators were stricken from the evening’s agenda.

Schiffert and Assistant Superintendent Renee Sallit would have received a 3% supplemental salary increases for the 2026-27 school year under the bill.

The superintendent said the item was pulled because “they were incorrectly written.” He added the increases were not “supplemental” but “contractual.”