Harrisburg School District’s Lincoln Administration Building
School property taxes will not increase for Harrisburg residents this year.
At a board meeting on Thursday, the Harrisburg School District passed its $211.7 million 2024-25 budget, a spending plan that does not include a tax increase.
Taxes will remain at 30.78 mills, as the school board voted to approve the tax structure. School property taxes are the only matter that the district’s board votes on while under receivership.
Dr. Marcia Stokes, the district’s chief financial officer, noted that, while the rate will stay the same, Harrisburg taxpayers who qualify for the Homestead Exemption may actually see a decrease on their tax bill in the coming year. This is due to an expected increase in state tax relief funds for the district.
The largest expenditures in the budget include salaries and benefits for employees, debt payments, charter school tuition costs and renovations and HVAC replacements.
This year’s budget is lower than the previous year’s budget of $222.8 million, mostly due to fewer federal COVID-relief funds available to the district this year. The 2024-25 budget includes $8.5 million total in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, the last bit of that funding that the district has left.
Also on Thursday, receiver Dr. Lori Suski approved a contract with North Carolina-based Cross Safe to provide crossing guard services for the upcoming school year at a cost of $31.78 per hour. This contract includes hiring 12 school crossing guards at an estimated cost of $33,750 per month for 10 months, or $337,503 total.
In August 2023, Suski approved entering into an agreement with Harrisburg to employ school crossing guards, with the city funding 40% of the cost of their salaries and the district supporting 60%. However, the city has not offered funding again this year, and the district has struggled to recruit and hire crossing guards, district officials explained.
Suski also shared that the district’s Chief Recovery Officer Travis Waters’ two-year term with the district ends this month and that Yvonne Hollins would take over the role. The part-time position is appointed by the Pennsylvania secretary of education and contracted by the Department of Education for a set period of time.
Hollins was a teacher and later principal in the Harrisburg School District for many years, and served as the assistant superintendent for secondary schools for the Central Dauphin School District, among other positions.
For more information, visit the Harrisburg School District’s website.
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