The issue of whether teachers of the Karns City School District would agree to a one-year wage freeze requested by Gov. Tom Corbett might no longer seem relevant to district taxpayers.

That’s because on Monday the school board adopted a 2011-12 budget that — except for slight adjustments to comply with state tax equalization formulas resulting from the district being in more than one county — avoids for the third year in a row a real estate tax increase for property owners.

The district’s tentative 2011-12 spending plan had called for a 6-mill increase, but the district balanced its new budget with a combination of program and personnel cuts totaling about $1.1 million, $100,000 from the district’s reserve fund and $45,333 in additional real estate taxes that were collected.

Meanwhile, the district hopes state lawmakers will restore some of the $1.4 million in subsidy money that the district would lose under Corbett’s subsidy-cutback proposal. That possibility is not out of the question.

Although the teachers’-wage-freeze issue has been thrust into the background by the board’s success in controlling spending for the new year, district taxpayers should not be distracted from considering the longer-term implications of the teachers’ refusal to partner with the governor’s request.

For 2011-12, the freeze could have helped the district avoid some or most of the cuts that will be implemented under the new budget.

However, it is what lies beyond 2011-12 that should be of greater concern.

The fact hasn’t been stressed very much, but school budget difficulties aren’t likely to be a situation limited to 2011-12. Many, if not most, school districts will be facing similar, serious money challenges in 2012-13 and probably beyond.

With at least part of the money that the district could have realized from the freeze this year, combined with the cumulative effects of that freeze in future years, the district’s finances could have been guaranteed much more stability than what now will exist.

Unfortunately, taxpayers in most school districts choose not to ponder such longer-term implications.

So, while the Karns City board and administration merit praise for avoiding a 2011-12 tax increase, they also should admit privately, if not publicly, that the situation going forward is not as stable as it could be and that tough financial decisions and maybe controversial cuts lie before them next year and beyond.

There’s no guarantee that the state will be better off from a money standpoint for 2012-13 than it is for the new fiscal year that begins July 1. Some money saved this year on the local level could have cushioned the district against future state decisions negatively impacting subsidies.

For Karns City taxpayers, the situation boils down to wait-and-see. While accepting that, they shouldn’t dismiss the possibility of future disappointment.