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Southmoreland School District board meeting, Jun 23, 2026

55 min · 1 public speaker

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 55 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Southmoreland board votes 5⁠-⁠4 on 2026⁠-⁠2027 budget with 3-mill Westmoreland County tax increase 23:22

  • Board member Catherine Fike asked questions on several items, including why a memorandum was needed for retirements, how a $313,770 amount is paid and which businesses were contacted. 11:58
  • The budget includes a tax increase of 3 mills for Westmoreland County and 1.56 mills for Fayette County. 18:30
  • The board voted 5⁠-⁠4 on a 2026⁠-⁠2027 final budget with revenues and expenditures of $38,826,520.51. 23:22

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Item by item (14)
  1. Opening and agenda comments 0:00
    • Executive sessions were held June 16th, 2026 on the personnel log and a Director of Special Education position, and June 23rd on the personnel log, tax appeals and an annual safety and security report. 0:31
    • During comments on agenda items, one board member said taxpayers would see property taxes increased and that the district is already $33.3 million in debt. 1:48
    • Catherine Fike said the budget adds another administrator and a consultant and asked that the comments be quoted in the minutes. 1:48
  2. Reports and meeting minutes 4:55
    • The superintendent and the solicitor said they had no reports, and a staff member confirmed there was no additional budget information. 4:58
    • On the May 19th, 2026 minutes, one board member said the minutes had not been provided and that voting was not possible. 5:41
    • A staff member said every board member had the same opportunity to review the materials. 6:12
  3. Policy approvals 6:37
    • The board considered policies posted for over 30 days, which a speaker said included 2 mandated and 5 recommended policies. 6:39
    • One board member said the vote was no on all of them except the 2 mandated ones. 7:24
  4. Personnel log and software renewal 7:36
    • The board considered the June 23rd, 2026 personnel log, and one board member said the vote was yes after seeing it in executive session. 7:37
    • The board also considered renewal of PA educator for the 2026⁠-⁠2027 school year at a cost of $1,750. 8:01
  5. Summer food service pay rates 8:34
    • The proposed summer 2026 rates were $17 for kitchen staff, $16 for a driver and $15 for site supervisors. 8:39
    • A staff member said the program has 2 kitchen staff, 1 driver and 3 site supervisors, and is budgeted at about $28,000 from food service funds. 9:41
    • Mellisa Moore said the program is not new and feeds students. 10:45
  6. Food service retirement memorandum 11:29
    • The board considered a memorandum of understanding with SEIU Local 32BJ on food service retirements. 11:29
    • One board member asked why a memorandum was needed and later said the information needed to vote was not available. ~11:58
    • A staff member said the memorandum, created with the SEIU, sets a 3-tier system based on years of service, with payments from the food service budget. 12:27
  7. Van aide pay, services agreement, financial reports 16:40
    • The board considered an addendum to pay paraprofessionals their current hourly rate for hours worked as a van aide. 16:40
    • The board also considered an annual student services agreement and the monthly financial reports. 17:19
    • One board member said voting on the student services agreement was not possible without the information. 17:33
  8. 2026-2027 final budget 18:07
    • The final budget lists revenues and expenditures of $38,826,520.51 and a tax increase of 3 mills for Westmoreland County and 1.56 mills for Fayette County. 18:07
    • Catherine Fike asked about the reading curriculum and where cursive writing appears in the curriculum, and a staff member said it is in the ELA curriculum in grades 2, 3, 4 and 5. 18:51
    • One board member said the cursive writing discussion was not applicable to the budget, and a vote to end discussion was 6⁠-⁠3. 22:48
    • The budget vote was 5⁠-⁠4. 23:24
  9. Homestead exclusion and continuing taxes 23:32
    • The board considered a resolution to distribute gaming tax funds of $1,634,369 to qualified homestead and farmstead properties, which a staff member said breaks down to $396.98. 23:37
    • A staff member listed the earned income tax, Local Services Tax and real estate transfer taxes. 24:57
  10. Real estate tax resolution 25:47
    • Scott Olsen asked why the Westmoreland County figure is 100.7 and Fayette County is 19.4, and a staff member said the counties assessed properties in different years. 26:09
    • Stephanie Geyer said the common level ratio of 2.32 in Fayette County and 11.26 in Westmoreland County balances the difference. 26:44
    • Catherine Fike asked why the board was voting twice, and a staff member said the resolution is done every year under Section 687 of the School Code of 1949. 27:35
  11. Insurance renewal 29:15
    • The board considered an insurance renewal proposal in the amount of $313,777. 29:15
    • A staff member said raising the deductible to $25,000 would save only $8,651, so the deductible was kept at 10. 29:39
    • Mellisa Moore said most categories were status quo except property coverage, because of building renovations. 33:33
  12. Maintenance transfer and capital purchases 37:03
    • The board considered a $90,227 budget transfer from the contingency fund to the maintenance fund for a truck and lawn mower. 37:03
    • The board considered a $62,740 accessible first grade playground paid from PDE adequacy grant funds, and Catherine Fike asked why adequacy funding would pay for a playground. 39:58
    • The board also considered a 2026 Ford F-350 truck for $79,270 and a Wright lawn mower for $10,957. 41:58
  13. Athletics sponsorship program 44:10
    • Catherine Fike asked which businesses had been contacted, and a staff member said businesses cannot be contacted before the program is approved. 44:51
    • Stephanie Geyer said administrators could contact businesses throughout the entire district, and Mellisa Moore said only the red level is limited to 4 spots. 46:17
  14. Closing comments and adjournment 48:00
    • A speaker at public comment raised concerns about advertising on the scoreboard. 48:19
    • Catherine Fike cited news reports and research on the effect of screen time on young children. 51:26

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

Other meetings

Other meetings of this board

Video: posted by the district as “Southmoreland School Board Meeting 6/23/2026”