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MIFFLINTOWN -- Every year come budget time, East Juniata High School teacher Simon Cameron preaches to the Juniata County School District school board.
He's been asking for the same moderate tax increase for the past 10 to 15 years.
"Even when times are good, you've got to build a cushion in your budget," Cameron, who graduated from East Juniata High School in 1997. "Our main strategy is to cut, cut, cut, cut. We consolidated buildings, which saved us money.
"People said when we did that, we promised to not raise taxes," he added. "That's not what was said. We said, 'This will allow us to remain functional.'"
This year's proposed $45.08 million budget includes a 3.5-mill tax hike.
That means property owners in the district will see 5.05 percent tax increase during the 2023-24 fiscal year, if the budget is adopted in June.
The budget will be displayed and advertised for public review prior to the next school board meeting in June. It must be approved and adopted by the school board in June. If adopted, the tax rates become effective July 1.
Cameron hopes it will pass. If it doesn't, he's not sure where the cuts will come from.
"I am cautiously optimistic," he explained. "I know there's a lot of questions on it, but there's not a lot of options to cut."
Cameron teaches economics and history, so he knows what he's talking about. Also, as president of the Juniata County Education Association, he worries about talks for the current contract which expires in 2025.
"If it doesn't pass, I don't know what to cut that wouldn't be detrimental at this point," Cameron added. "We're not furloughing teachers, but we are losing positions."
Some of them include a physical education teacher, special education teacher, director of maintenance, funding a school psychologist through the medical assistance fund and not replacing a principal when Ben Fausey was promoted to the assistant superintendent of schools.
"We've done a lot of cuts, I just don't know where we're going to get more," Cameron said.
He believes teacher morale suffers when positions are not filled and when substitute teachers are not available.
"Our elementary teachers are constantly having split classes in their classrooms," Cameron explained. "They don't get compensated for that."
If a teacher is out, that classroom gets divided up between either the remaining teachers or a grade close to it, if a substitute is not available.
"It's not an easy solution," he said. "There's a sub shortage across the state."
Cameron hopes that the board will see the district's Act 1 Index does not exceed the number set up by the state and vote to approve the budget.
While the budget passed by a 6-3 margin the last time, the final vote could be closer. "I don't think it will pass by a lot," he added.
The district ranks as the 28th lowest in the state when it comes to cost per student, Juniata County School District Business Manager Richard Meily said at the May 11 school board meeting.
Juniata County School District Superintendent of Schools Christie Holderman added, "And look at what our kids have done this year. We have kids doing amazing things in all aspects - academics, athletes, musicians, every area. And, we're at seventh (lowest in the state) tax base, ninth (lowest) per pupil spending. We get a lot done.
The district's tax rate, which is proposed to be 72.8970 mills, will bring in revenues to cover nearly half of expenditures, or $22.04 million.
Holderman said the district ranks as the seventh lowest in the state in local taxes, with Greenwood Township in Juniata County twice as high. She continued the school board's approach over the past several years has focused on cutting expenses within the district, adding there isn't anything left to cut.
"We have already eliminated CAD, we eliminated trades at East Juniata," she said.
Cameron worries about the future because the outlook is bleak.
"There's a lot of competition out there, I worry about us matching the pay of other districts," he said. "Teachers are our best resource here. We don't have a lot of bells and whistles. If we don't have good teachers in our classrooms, our kids will not succeed. A good teacher is priceless."
While board member Troy Woodward asked about unfunded mandates, Holderman warned that the district has "more mandates that are unfunded that we have to do."
There's also the cost of $3 million to cover cyber/charter school. Currently, the district runs its own virtual cyber school in which 68 students are enrolled. There are a total of 247 students in off-site charter schools.
Holderman would like to bring those students back to the fold to save money. The district currently uses administrators to perform all the behind-the-scenes work and the staff teaches.
Holderman said, "We would like to add somebody that just takes care of our virtual programming. If we could keep our charter school tuition, would we be having this discussion? No."
Having a dedicated staff to oversee the virtual students as other districts have comes with added costs.
Board member Malinda Carvell suggested restructuring existing staff at East Juniata High School and other schools to be more efficient; however, Holderman said that plan would not impact the budget for the next school year.
Board member Joseph Shearer asked, "If it fails - the vote for a new tax increase - how far down the line before we get into financial trouble?
Meily answered, "Immediately. We're already there."
School Board President Angela Varner said members have a tough decision, but one that should be in the best interest of the students.
"I think all of us would love to vote that there's no increase," she said. "But we have a job to do. We have to do what's best for our students and our constituents."