Allentown School District’s $514.7 million 2026-27 budget passed 7-2 Thursday, with discussion about whether or not a proposed 2.9% tax increase could be minimized or avoided again dominating the debate among board members.
Amid questions from fellow board members about the necessity of the proposed 2.9% tax increase, Allentown School Board President Andrene Brown-Nowell and others vehemently defended the measure as necessary to ensure long-term fiscal stability, avoid future layoffs, and continue to invest in construction and facility upgrades.
Brown-Nowell said facility disparities between Allentown schools and neighboring schools are inequitable.
“I’m sorry, I can’t sit down and watch our Black and brown kids walk into these buildings anymore,” Brown-Nowell said. “I can’t. I’m gonna say it. I can’t. They deserve better.”
Interim Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Cuff and Chief Operations Officer Robert Whartenby have spent previous meetings arguing that a tax increase is necessary to meet the priority needs identified in a recently completed assessment of the district’s aging buildings and outdated athletic facilities.
Allentown School District officials call for tax increase to fund infrastructure upgrades
On Thursday, Cuff said the 2.9% tax increase is an acknowledgment that new construction, such as the East Side K-8 campus and the Family and Community Resource Center being built alongside a Bridgeview Academy that is also slated for renovations, will require the district to borrow money or float bonds.
“This is going to help to defer some of that increase on our debt service that we are going to incur,” Cuff said.
Board member Nick Nicholoff said he believes the tax increase might not seem like an immediate necessity but that he would prefer to be proactive rather than reactive and to take action that could prevent the district having to consider layoffs in the future.
Nancy Wilt, recently appointed to the board to fill the vacancy created by Ana Tiburcio’s election as state representative, said her previous tenure on the board was marred by the layoffs of hundreds of teachers after state funding dropped, leaving her reluctant to prevent the district from proactively raising money to service its long-term investment plans.
Wilt, who also serves as chief of state for state Rep. Peter Schweyer, chairman of the House education committee, reminded the audience that the district supported a lawsuit that ultimately resulted the state’s school funding program being ruled unconstitutional. Allentown now draws 70% of its budget from state funds, a much higher percentage than neighboring districts.
Wilt said she’d served on the Allentown School Board through years where the district raised its taxes to the maximum level allowable under state law and still faced long-term deficits.
The 2.9% tax increase in the 2026-27 budget is below the district’s Act 1 index for the year, which is set at 5.4%, Cuff said, adding that the district has kept taxes flat for the past three years.
Wilt said she’s concerned that if the district does not raise taxes now, and then finds itself having to spend its rainy day fund to cover expenses, “then we find ourselves back in the situation we were in when I was on the board the first time, which was trying to fill that hole and not having a pot of money to actually pull from because it had continually been pulled from because nobody wanted to raise taxes.”
Wilt’s comment sparked board Vice President Audrey Mathison’s sole comment during the finance committee’s discussion of the budget, with Mathison responding, “I choose never to be in that situation again.”
Board members Evette D’Amore and Cereta Johnson also defended the tax increase.
D’Amore said she’d never complained about the portion of her own property taxes that go to fund schools, saying, “We’re educating the children that are going to lead this country in the future.”
“Do we want children leading us that are idiots and can’t think for themselves, or do we want kids who can think for themselves as adults and make decisions, informed decisions, because they were taught how to do research, how to think for themselves?” D’Amore asked.
Johnson said recent deaths of youth have brought home for her the necessity of investing in schools to ensure that students are engaged in a safe learning environment.
“These are our kids dying, because they don’t have the resources,” Johnson said. “We don’t have the time in this day and age to say ‘no, let’s wait another year,’ because in that year’s time, my kids are dying. They’re walking into schools that are not equipped to handle their type of education.”
Mental health facilities are needed, as is investment in the kind of technology that could interest students more than their phones, Johnson said.
“The bigger picture is, we have kids that don’t want to go into these schools. And when they go into the school, they don’t have the resources — you know why truancy is high? Because they’re bored.”
Board member Dianne Michels, who led the questioning of the budget’s 2.9% tax increase, asked if there was any way to cut expenses rather than raising taxes.
“I feel strongly about the needs of Allentown. I know we have older, much older, 150-year-old buildings that need attention. Can we legally separate out approving the budget versus approving the tax increase? I am not for the tax increase, as much as I know we need it, I can’t in all conscience vote for it, but I would like to approve the budget.”
Cuff and district solicitor Jeffrey Sultanik said there was no way to separate out the tax increase from the overall budget at this stage.
Michels did not propose specific cuts to district expenses, but rather emphasized the rising cost of living.
“When it’s hard to fill your gas tank, pay your groceries and your mortgage, you know middle-class people are feeling the squeeze, and I feel strongly about that,” she said.
Board member Denzel Morris supported Michels during the discussion of whether or not a tax increase was necessary. He joined her in opposing approval of the final budget.
“The reality is everyone’s facing very significant increases in their cost across the board,” Morris said. “They’re facing funding getting taken away for certain programs across the board due to the federal government. So Dianne’s question was, can we find an alternative?”
Board member Zaleeae Sierra did not offer comments during the night’s budget discussion. She did approve the budget, joining Brown-Nowell, Mathison, Nicholoff, Johnson, D’Amore and Wilt.
The board also approved a program to provide property tax rebates to seniors and residents with disabilities. Homeowners who earn less than $46,520 annually could qualify. According to the resolution, more than 2,200 property owners participated in 2023 a state property tax rebate program that the district’s program is modeled after.
Cuff projected that if more than 2,000 households participate, it would cost the district $159,000 for the 2026-27 fiscal year. The resolution caps funds for the rebate program at $200,000.
According to the resolution, the program would provide a rebate tied to the amount of the tax increase, set at approximately $71 based on the average home assessment in the school district being $107,320.