SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — While Lackawanna County is likely facing a major tax increase, residents in the Scranton School District have some relief that there will likely be no school tax increase in their area.
The $225.8 million 2025 budget balances without raising taxes a decision that was thoroughly looked at by the board
"Every decision you make affects someone so obviously when we sit down and look at putting this together, and as you watch our meetings, asking questions, those questions are geared around how does this benefit our people, how does this benefit our taxpayers with the price of different things going up how will this benefit our people cause the people at the end of the day if we can provide some sort of relief that's a bonus," explained Ty Holmes the president of the Scranton School Board.
The funding will go toward programs and staff positions that directly support students and their learning environment.
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"We are addressing and looking for ways to address mental health as that is obviously since COVID is increasing and something that we understand, something we are trying to address our buildings, we have very old buildings we have made it a priority to invest in our buildings to keep them up because they have to be safe, and we have to be able to secure them to keep our kids safe, if kids do not feel safe they're not gonna learn," continued Holmes.
The budget also has plans to restore the district preschool by starting a pilot program
"We potentially would like to try and restore a test pilot program in January, with one class, with the goal of hopefully restoring additional classes in September. We are still working with the state and working with outside agencies to look at how we can bring this program back," stated Holmes.
Now a no-tax increase for the 2025 year is possible because of the $16 million the district received in state funding. However, the amount of money doesn't solve all the problems.
"But us receiving that initial payment everyone thinks that solved our problems, 16 million dollars that's still 80 million dollars short of what is needed and owed to the Scranton school district, so while that did help, it's still a drop in the bucket," says Holmes.
Holmes said the board is pleased with the budget, and the final vote on the 2025 budget is set for December.
