ROARING SPRING — The Spring Cove School Board unanimously approved the 2025-26 budget reflecting no tax increase and expenditures of $35,321,451 during Monday’s meeting.

All eight board members present voted in favor of the budget. Chuck Gojmerac participated in the meeting by phone, while Linda Smith was absent.

The 2025-26 budget reflects $30,321,959 in revenue and $35,321,451 in expenditures, including the already-approved $2.7 million for a new roof at Central High School, which will come from the district’s capital projects fund.

Not including the cost of the new roof, the district will face a deficit of about $2.4 million. By adding about $600,000 from its budgetary reserve, the deficit will be brought down to about $1.8 million.

The remaining deficit will be covered by the general fund, district business manager Steven Foor said. With an unassigned fund balance of $2.4 million, the district would have approximately $600,000 remaining after covering the deficit.

With no tax increase, the district’s millage rate will remain 11.6556 mills for the upcoming school year.

“The millage rate is the same as ’24-’25, so taxpayers with the Homestead/Farmstead exclusion will see a slight decrease,” Superintendent Betsy Baker said.

In her superintendent’s report, Baker shared the district’s preliminary federal programs allocations, “which provide an approximation of what we can expect to receive in 2025-26.”

During the 2024-25 school year, the district’s final allocations totaled $459,822. The preliminary allocations for the 2025-26 school year total about $483,760, a difference of about $23,938.

“Title I and II funds are used to support the salaries and benefits of our five elementary reading specialists, as well as their instructional supplies,” Baker said. “Any remaining Title II funds support K-12 professional development costs. Title IV funds supplement our music and physical education programs.”

In other matters, the board awarded the Martinsburg Elementary fence project to Craig Fencing for about $42,985 in a 6-2 vote. The project, which is to install playground fencing, was originally budgeted for $60,000.

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

Fisher said she was “still against” the fencing at the playground. At the board’s May 19 meeting, Fisher said Martinsburg Elementary was “in the middle of nowhere and has been there” for more than 30 years.

“So if it was such a safety concern, why, all of a sudden, do we need fencing there?” Fisher said. “And they’re third through fifth graders so, to me, if you have kids eloping at that age, that’s a placement issue, not a safety issue.”

Baker had said “one of the safety concerns now” would be individuals driving vehicles through playgrounds.

In a phone call, Gojmerac said students’ safety is “paramount” but “at some point” you have to “cut the umbilical cord.”

“I understand some kids are runners,” Gojmerac said, adding that even students at the junior high and high school can “walk away.”

“If it were for Roaring Spring Elementary, I would have said yes,” Gojmerac said. “The underlying thing is, by not raising taxes, we have to be really smart with our funding. It’s not that it’s unnecessary, it’s just not as necessary as some other things.”

As for the possibility of an individual driving through playgrounds, Gojmerac said they “already have a metal gate on the north side of the road as it comes in.”

“If a person is going to do something, if they’re dedicated enough, it’s probably going to happen,” Gojmerac said. “If somebody has a big enough pick-up truck with a reinforced dash, they’re going to run through any fence that’s there.”

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