ROARING SPRING — The Spring Cove School Board will vote in its next meeting on approving about $163,000 in funding for select 2025-26 capital projects after initially denying all funding in a 7-2 vote during its April meeting.

The full list of 2025-26 capital projects included 12 items such as installing grab bars in handicap bathrooms, sealing asphalt at two Central High School parking lots and painting window and door lintels for about $222,000. The decision to deny the funding came after a discussion regarding the district’s budget and its projected $2.4 million deficit.

Board members Amy Acker-Knisely, Gretchen Bettwy, John Biddle, Misti Fisher, Andrea Moses, Kevin Smith and Linda Smith voted against funding the capital projects, while Chuck Gojmerac and Troy Wright voted in favor.

The revised list of capital projects that will be the subject of a re-vote during the board’s May 19 meeting include Martinsburg upgrades of replacing classroom lighting with LED for $45,000, rekeying locks to district Schlage System for $30,000 and installing playground fencing for $60,000. Spring Cove Elementary would also see playground fencing installed for its first and second grades for $23,000, while the Spring Cove Middle School soccer shed would be replaced and relocated for $5,000.

If approved, the funds for these capital projects would be transferred from the district’s capital projects fund to its general fund for the 2025-26 school year.

Without the state budget being passed, the district is still projecting a deficit of $2.4 million, business manager Steven Foor said.

“It’s still up in the air,” Foor said. “We haven’t heard very much. It’s very quiet on that front.”

The district’s Act 1 Index, which is used to determine the maximum tax increases for each tax the school district levies, is 5.4% — equivalent to about 12.2850 mills — for the 2025-26 school year, down from a high of 7.2% for the 2024-25 school year. Local taxes will account for 45%, or about $13,652,094, of the district’s total revenue, while state and federal funding will account for 53%, or $16,006,915, and 2%, or $572,950, respectively, for total projected revenues of about $30,321,959. This is an overall increase of 3.2% over last year’s total revenues.

The district’s projected expenditures total about $35,321,541, including the already-approved $2.7 million for a new roof at the Central High School. That is an overall increase of about 2.98% over last year’s total expenditures.

Not including the cost of the new roof, the district will face a deficit of about $2,366,594. By adding about $600,000 from its budgetary reserve, the deficit will be brought down to about $1,766,594.

Foor again stressed the challenge rising health care, retirement and cyber charter school tuition had on preparing a balanced budget.

For the 2024-25 school year, there were about 54 students enrolled in outside cyber charter schools, costing the district nearly $1 million or about “a whole mill,” Foor said. He added that this accounts for about 3.26% of the total budget.

Acker-Knisely said she and Wright met with Rep. Scott Barger regarding the issue, saying it was “a very positive meeting.”

“We can’t legislate this,” Acker-Knisely said. “This is not our problem to solve … I felt that (Barger) gets it and he agrees that we need a cap and that it needs to be fair.”

Health care costs increased 12% to about $3,182,225, while the budget’s retirement line item is about $3,886,000.

The board will vote on adopting the proposed final budget during its May 19 meeting, which is the required 30 days before the board votes on final budget adoption on June 23. The deadline for public notice of intent to adopt the 2025-26 final budget is June 13, the required 10 days prior to the June 23 final adoption vote.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.