Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors voted 6-2 Tuesday to approve a proposed final budget for 2026-27 that totals more than $52 million in expenditures and carries the maximum allowable property tax increase under state law.

Superintendent Jason Moser made clear, however, that tax hike figure is unlikely to survive intact to the final vote next month.

The $52,120,535 spending plan, which must be posted for 30 days of public review before a final vote at the June 22 board meeting, is built around the 4.8% Act 1 index cap established by the state. That ceiling would push the district’s real estate tax rate from 51.86 mills to 53.15 mills. Under that scenario, the district projects collecting $18,950,220 in real estate tax revenue; the largest single source of local funding.

Moser explained Tuesday that the proposed budget is a working document built on conservative assumptions, with personnel costs, the district’s dominant expense, subject to revision as retirements and staffing decisions become clearer.

“As we continue to fine tune with staffing and other costs, you would have a better sense of where the actual expenditures will be,” Moser said. “This does not mean it will end up at a 4.8% increase.”

Board President Alex Matika noted the structural reason the board was voting on the maximum: setting the ceiling now preserves the district’s options in June.

“Even if the proposed rate was lower, it couldn’t go up once it’s approved at the preliminary stage,” Matika said of property taxes.

Approving at the index maximum, he added, gives the board the flexibility to come down, but not to go back up, before final adoption.

The spending plan is heavily weighted toward instruction, which accounts for $35,692,193, roughly 68.5% of total expenditures. Special education alone represents $12,726,069 of that figure, reflecting a portion of the ongoing cost of serving students with disabilities, some of whom are educated at outside placements. Regular classroom programs across elementary and secondary schools total $20,647,043. The balance of the budget covers support services at $11,837,731, student activities at $1,057,550 and debt service at $3,475,960.

On the revenue side, the district projects $51,463,652 coming in. The gap between projected revenues and expenditures would be drawn from the district’s fund balance. The proposed budget shows an ending unassigned fund balance of $3,916,695, equal to 7.51% of total expenditures and within state-mandated limits for a district of Lehighton’s size.

The district’s long-term debt load is projected to decrease from approximately $47.3 million to $45.3 million by the close of fiscal year 2027, driven primarily by bond payments.

Director Jeremy Glaush, who voted against the proposed budget, said his vote was rooted less in opposition to the budget than in his view that new board members were being pushed toward the maximum increase unnecessarily.

“For the last several years, we were told that, if we don’t raise taxes, we’re going to perish in hell, and we’re really not doing that bad,” Glaush said. “This is what they do with new boards; you convince them that if you don’t raise taxes by the maximum amount, you’re going to regret it.”

He cited years of the district holding the line on taxes.

“We didn’t raise it for how many years? Four. And then we lowered it.”

Matika offered a pointed rebuttal.

“But now look at our deficit,” he said.

Glaush, however, remained skeptical.

“We were told that we were going to run out of money by 2026,” he said. “Didn’t run out of money, and we still have a lot in the bank.” He ultimately said he expected the final figure to come in well below the ceiling.

“4.8% sounds scary,” Glaush said. “I won’t vote for it, even on the beginning budget, but it’ll get whittled down. It’s just a scary number to hear.”

He also called on the administration to pursue competitive grants as a way to ease pressure on taxpayers.

“A lot of districts do fill in gaps with competitive grants,” Glaush said. “I understand that you could spend two hours filling out a form just to not get it, but that’s two hours that could get you a lot of money. It’s very possible.”

Director David Bradley voted no as well.

“Due diligence first,” he said when called for his vote.

Business Administrator Matthew Lentz is expected to present a full budget overview at the June 8 workshop meeting, giving community members a deeper look at the numbers before the board takes its final vote.