SLIPPERY ROCK TWP -- While a tax increase will ultimately occur, Slippery Rock Area School District residents will not face the $1.3 million deficit and 5.31 mill tax increase that was once being projected.

The school board unanimously approved a general fund budget of $39,112,826 at its Monday, June 23 meeting. The district’s millage will be set at 110.75 -- a 2.25 mill increase.

The finalized budget pegs expected revenue at $38,778,270 -- leaving an expected deficit of $334,556. This comes after efforts over the past two months by the board to push closer to a balanced budget.

Slippery Rock Area School District has an existing general fund of $8.347 million.

The more dire projections were shown at the board’s May 12 meeting. At the time, board members expressed concern over raising the millage rate to 5.31, the maximum allowed under the state index which would not have covered the entire deficit.

Since then, it has made cuts to trim the deficit, such as the elimination of a benefits coordinator position, a kindergarten and second-grade teaching position at Moraine Elementary, two support staff paraprofessionals, and the German foreign language position at the high school.

The budget efforts are occurring amid a high school renovation that costs roughly $27 million.

Board secretary Paul Cessar previously said it was possible the deficit could be reduced further before next school year, depending on if the Pennsylvania General Assembly approved House Bill 1500, a cyber charter reform bill that includes a proposal to cap cyber charter tuition payments made by the public schools.

But regardless of the proposal, the state budget also is not expected to be completed on time. Recent reports indicated the General Assembly will miss its June 30 deadline for passing a state budget.

“We go through our procedures and budgeting with our business manager, and I don’t want to say that we don’t worry about the state budget, because you’re right, it does impact us, but we have to go through our processes to get where we need to be so we can open school in the fall and have things done in a timely fashion,” superintendent Alphonso Angelucci said. “It’s a bit inconvenient, but not so much so we can’t go through our processes to get our budget passed.”

Along with the general budget, the school board also approved its 2025-26 athletic budget of $285,000.

While Cessar said trimming the deficit was a team effort, Angelucci and the board said Cessar was to thank for the efforts of getting the budget as balanced as possible.

“Without Paul Cessar handling that thing, it doesn’t go that way,” Angelucci said.