PHOTO PROVIDED Members of the Keystone Central School District Board of Directors listen to a presentation made by Business Manager Joni MacIntyre regarding a review of the timeline for the 2026-2027.

LOCK HAVEN — The Keystone Central School District Board of Directors reviewed the timeline for its 2026-2027 budget.

Business Manager Joni MacIntyre offered a snapshot of what the board can expect going into the new year regarding her office’s work on the upcoming budget process.

MacIntyre noted her office is requesting the board, at its voting session Dec. 11, approve a resolution to not increase taxes past the Act 1 Index of 3.5 percent.

She added the district legally cannot exceed this amount, as it received a portion of adequacy funding from the state following a lawsuit regarding fair funding amongst the Commonwealth’s districts.

MacIntyre said her office will begin working on the numbers for the new budget in January and February. This includes receiving budgets from department heads and building principals.

“I’ve already sent out to the department heads and building principals their budgets,” she told the board.

She explained these budgets, which start at zero, will be submitted Jan. 5, following the holidays.

“I’m also starting to work through the wages and benefits portion — how much we think our medical, vision and dental will be next year,” she said.

Also included in this portion are the collective bargaining agreements such as Act 93 which are built into the budget.

“By March I’ll come to the board with a preview of the general fund budget,” she said. “We’ll discuss possible tax increases and you can give me some type of direction to go into.”

That presentation is slated for March 12, according to the timeline.

The following month, on April 9, MacIntyre will present the board with the budget once again which will then be posted for public inspection.

On May 14 the board will review a proposed final budget to approve.

Final adoption of the 2026-2027 budget is slated for June 18, MacIntyre said.

Once the budget is approved, MacIntyre said she’ll submit it to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

During discussion, board member Chris Scaff asked if the board could review individual budgets for each school building.

“I would ask that, because (the budget process) is starting today, we do a budget for each individual school. That way we can see where the ups are and where the downs are. We can fine-tune the amount of money we are going through a little easier,” he said.

Scaff said, though they are one district, he feels — much like when someone owns individual businesses — they should have separate budgets to track expenses.

MacIntyre noted each building has its own separate budgets, though it isn’t reflected that way in the General Fund budget.

Superintendent Dr. Francis Redmon said the way the accounting codes are currently set up, it doesn’t individually separate expenses — such as the purchase of building supplies and materials — in the budget.

“They’d have to do a lot of work in reforming that,” he said.

“That’s what they get paid for. I understand you say it’s going to take some work. But if we’re already doing part of it, we should see a budget,” he said.

Other board members expressed their thoughts on the proposal.

Dr. Bill Baldino told his fellow board members he felt it would be “overmanaging from where we are” based on board policy.

“We’re supposed to be making policies and there’s supposed to be one general fund budget. This board is not the CFO or the CEO of this organization. Dr. Redmon and Ms. MacIntyre are responsible for that,” Baldino said. “I think that if we were to do that, we’re creating a lot of extra work and I’m not sure we’re going to do as good a job as they are.”

Board Member Jeff Johnston was the only other board member to voice his disagreement with the proposal.

“You can pull those budgets for each school and you’re going to see the principal might have a small account for whatever they need to use for day-to-day operations. You’re not going to see thousands and thousands of dollars,” he said. “You can look at it but that’s not where the money is. That’s not where the district is.”

He said he agreed with Baldino’s comment regarding micromanaging.

“We are not to micromanage the school district. That is what we pay these folks to do. It’s Joni’s job, it’s Dr. Redmon’s job, they are there to make sure that we are spending the money as fiscally responsible and efficiently as possible. You can look at every building budget if you want but you aren’t going to see much there,” he said.

Other board members spoke in favor of Scaff’s proposal.

Board Member Mary Kramer said many of her constituents in the Renovo area have expressed concerns on how funding is spread between the schools.

“If there is a report to say ‘this is what you’re getting, this is what they’re getting’ that would kind of nip that in the bud,” she said.

Board Member John Miller said a breakdown would offer extra accountability for each building.

“I think if they broke it down to where it was each school individually, each school could be held more accountable,” he said.

Board Member Manuel Rodriguez expressed favorability for the idea.

“I do agree that there has to be a little more clarification on where the money is going and how it’s being spent. It being broken down that way, we could understand it a little bit better. I think it would clarify questions for everyone,” he said.

MacIntyre noted the overall budget for school buildings, lumped together, is roughly $500,000 totally.

“We do break it down by building and the building and departments, out of this budget of $92 million, equals about $500,000,” she said. “We have no problem doing this, I just wanted to let you know.”

MacIntyre said the majority of the district’s budget is put towards wages, benefits and cyber charter costs.

Scaff reiterated that, since the administration already has the breakdown, it wouldn’t hurt to include.

He noted a breakdown like that would make it easier to understand the monthly bills for payment the board reviews and approves.

“If we see it’s for what school then we know where it went. I won’t have to ask all those questions and be so critical,” he said.

Following discussion, Board President Elisabeth Lynch suggested MacIntyre put together examples of the requests Scaff and others made to be presented to the Finance Committee at the end of December.

“Come to the board members that come to the meeting with some of the concepts that you’v heard tonight and let the committee work on that, and then you can help guide them,” Lynch said.

MacIntyre said she would work on those proposals.