LEWISTOWN — The Mifflin County School District Board of Directors proposed using its general fund balance to address a preliminary deficit of $6.4 million for the 2026-27 school year, and community members urged the board to raise taxes to address the shortfall on Monday.

The two options were presented as alternatives as well as cost-cutting measures which were discussed at last week’s workshop and involved staffing and program cuts.

Treasurer Melinda Kenepp stated that the board had three options to address the preliminary deficit: rely on reserves (general fund balance) to carry them through, raise revenues, or decrease expenses.

According to Kenepp’s presentation, the general fund balance sits at about $28.9 million. And, raising revenues means raising taxes, while decreasing expenses through program, staffing and other cuts were taken off the table at Monday’s meeting.

Kenepp also shared that other school districts have much higher millage rates than the Mifflin County School District. The 2025-26 millage rate in the Mifflin County School District is 34.5215, the Juniata County School District is 81.5920, the Huntingdon Area School District is 59.4624, and the Mount Union Area School District is 46.3800.

A millage rate is used to calculate property taxes by multiplying the millage rate by a property’s assessed value. The majority of the local tax revenue that school districts receive comes from property taxes.

During the final public comment portion of the budget discussion meeting, community members voiced their concerns with the board’s proposal to utilize its general fund balance to address the preliminary deficit.

Adam Runk, of Lewistown, said, “It was glaringly obvious that we need to raise property taxes. We talked about long-range planning, and there was a lot of discussion about raiding the savings bank as if that was a solution. It’s great that the money’s there, but I don’t really think an appropriate use of those funds are to sustainably fund a budget deficit.”

Diane Stewart, a former director on the board, said, “You’re not responsible to the taxpayers to say I’m not going to raise your taxes. You’re responsible to the taxpayers to say I’m going to do the best with your tax money that I can.”

Josh Looney of Reedsville echoed many community members’ sentiments that students deserve more, not less, in terms of financial investment in their education.

Looney also stated, “I find it very concerning that we came here tonight to discuss cuts whenever that was clearly an unserious proposal. The unanimous vote to get rid of the items on the agenda clearly shows that.”

Many attendees at Monday’s budget discussion meeting agreed that the board should raise the millage rates to address the preliminary deficit in the 2026-27 budget.

Directors will hold a special voting meeting at 6:30 p.m. today in the administration building to assess their options to address the deficit.