{"id":214287,"date":"2026-06-09T05:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/214287\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T05:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:11:07","slug":"basd-approves-difficult-budget-with-4-property-tax-increase-bethlehem-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/214287\/","title":{"rendered":"BASD approves \u2018difficult budget\u2019 with 4% property tax increase | Bethlehem Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2013 Bethlehem Area School District officials aren\u2019t happy with the 2026-27 budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a difficult budget; this is one of the hardest we\u2019ve had in a while,\u201d said Board of Directors President Michael Faccinetto.<\/p>\n

But they\u2019ve voted to pass it anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t really a good budget, but it\u2019s an acceptable budget given the situation that we\u2019re in,\u201d Faccinetto said.<\/p>\n

The $390 million spending plan<\/a> includes a 4% real estate tax increase, which will result in a $140 increase for the average taxpayer in Northampton County and a $122 increase for the average taxpayer in Lehigh County.<\/p>\n

Officials predict $385 million in revenue for 2026-27, which results in a $5.2 million contribution from the fund balance to balance the budget, officials said. The remaining fund balance is $5.1 million, they said.<\/p>\n

The spending plan includes cutting numerous positions, including administrative support staff and teaching positions, affecting every part of the district, Faccinetto said. He added that the district was able to balance the budget without furloughing anyone but saw reductions through attrition and restructuring.<\/p>\n

Board member Winston Alozie said that while the budget was well prepared, it was unfair to those affected by programs that have been cut and to educators who have taken on new responsibilities due to restructuring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t agree with some of the decisions that have been made to achieve this budget. I think it\u2019s irresponsible, and I think it\u2019s unfair to some of the children and families that we serve that we\u2019ve cut certain programs to make this budget happen\u2026but I understand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Consulting
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BASD plans to hire a firm to conduct a comprehensive enrollment, building utilization and boundary study to determine redistricting options.<\/p>\n

Board member Michael Recchiuti said the district is feeling the effects of inflation that has affected all aspects of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the things that shows we are not immune to the same inflation we see personally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood job, but hopefully we won\u2019t have to raise taxes 4% next year,\u201d Recchiuti added.<\/p>\n

District Chief Financial Officer Harry Aristakesian said the district expects the state budget to be adopted and anticipates receiving 100% of its basic education and special education funding, as well as adequacy funding.<\/p>\n

Title I funding supports programs for low-income students, English learners and educator development.<\/p>\n

For her part, board member Silagh White urged taxpayers to contact legislators about charter school funding reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharter schools still impact our budget most incredibly\u2026this is a significant expense on public school budgets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The district projects spending $50 million on charter school payments while receiving $56 million in basic education funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost all of the money that\u2019s coming in from the state, we\u2019re writing a check right back to the charter schools,\u201d Aristakesian said.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Jack Silva called the spending plan a \u201ctough budget,\u201d but said he supported its passage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this plan for the multiyear budget does what it needs to do this year and delivers on the education expectations the community has for our students,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n

Aristakesian said the budget represents \u201ca best effort to outline what\u2019s going to happen anywhere from three to 15 months from now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2013 Bethlehem Area School District officials aren\u2019t happy with the 2026-27 budget. \u201cThis is a difficult…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1967,153,1412,155,154,45787,93890,28661,1434,93891,28660,34222,30816,32680,79936],"class_list":["post-214287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-basd","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-area-school-district","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-bethlehem-school-board","tag-district-chief-financial-officer","tag-harry-aristakesian","tag-jack-silva","tag-jane-coughenour","tag-michael-faccinetto","tag-michael-recchiuti","tag-real-estate-tax-increase","tag-silagh-white","tag-winston-alozie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}