Pittsburgh Public Schools still looks to raise property tax rates by 4% after voting down a sweeping plan to overhaul the district last month.
The tax hike, along with cyber charter school reforms, would provide budget relief to PPS as the district works to fend off rising deficit amid shrinking enrollment and climbing costs. The administration rushed through budget revisions after the board unexpectedly ended longstanding plans for school closures and consolidations late November.
The school district’s tax hike proposal hits residents at the same time as the cash-strapped City of Pittsburgh mulls a 30% raise on its property tax levy.
In a public hearing Monday, one speaker raised concerns about the double hit on homeowners, should both proposals pass.
“This is a year to try to hold the line on taxes. I think we’re going to be punished greatly by the City of Pittsburgh with the bigger tax bill coming,” said Mark Rauterkus, a South Side resident.
The district’s proposal would change the millage rate from 10.25 to 10.66. A proposal by Pittsburgh City Councilor Barbara Warwick would lift the city’s rate from 8.06 mills to 10.48 mills. Allegheny County charges 6.3 mills. A mill is a dollar per $1,000 in assessed value. Homeowners can receive partial abatements.
PPS’s proposed 2026 budget totals $729.7 million in spending, with an operating deficit of $6.3 million, despite trimming $22 million from the 2025 adopted budget. If approved, the 4% tax increase would raise an additional $7 million in tax revenue. If the board votes it down, though, the district’s operating deficit would stretch to $14 million. A vote could come on Nov. 17.
“There is a decrease to our cyber charter tuition rates, so that accounts for the big change in our budget, providing us with some wiggle room so that we can have further work to do in the upcoming years to work at reducing our budget,” district CFO Ron Joseph said in a business and finance meeting last week.
Pittsburgh Public Schools earlier introduced a preliminary $736.6 million budget for 2026 in early November.
That version accounted for school closures, grade consolidations and other changes worked into the Future-Ready Facilities Plan. Board members, however, rejected the plan last month, following public criticism and concerns about a lack of transparency and insufficient details for implementation.
Following the vote, Superintendent Wayne Walters said in an email statement that he remained confident that the plan was rooted in data and community input and there was “a desire to continue the work.”
Since then, lawmakers passed a state budget with a new formula for cyber charter school payments that would channel $178 million to school districts across Pennsylvania.
Public school districts must pay tuition for any students who live within their boundaries and choose to attend brick-and-mortar or cyber charter schools. Many school districts have argued that cyber schools receive inflated payments because they do not have to foot building maintenance or transportation costs.
Joseph said the new cyber charter reforms would save PPS an estimated $12.1 million annually.
He said those savings would have resulted in a budget surplus had the Future Ready Facilities plan not been scuppered.
PPS projected 2026 budget
- Expenditures: $729.7 million
- Revenues: $723.4 million
- Operating deficit: $6.3 million
Most of the district’s expenditures go toward salaries and benefits. The budget projects a $1.2 million reduction in salaries and benefits, a $3 million reduction in special education costs, a $3.9 million increase in transportation costs and an $18.6 million reduction in charter school costs compared to last year.
The updated budget complies with the district’s minimum fund balance policy that requires cash reserves equivalent to at least 5% of total expenditures. However, the district projects that it won’t be able to comply with the fund balance policy by the end of 2027.
Board President Gene Walker said it would be difficult to ask taxpayers to support increasing taxes when the school board was not able to mitigate issues around the students’ educational needs. He added that if the district had been informed about the cyber charter reforms a few weeks earlier, it could have strengthened the district’s financial outlook by moving forward with the Future-Ready plan.
“I feel like we missed an opportunity to accomplish something, and I’m not sure you know what that looks like in the future,” he said.
Walker had long supported the plan but ultimately voted against implementing it when it became clear it lacked the votes to move forward.
District parent Emily Sawyer said PPS needs to work with the city and stop giving tax abatements to developers or try to change transportation laws that require them to bus students to charter schools.
“It’s hard to hear you’re raising property taxes, and that’s going to mostly affect the people with the least ability to pay those increased property taxes when we’re constantly giving abatements,” she said. “It’s just really frustrating.”
Lajja Mistry is the K-12 education reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at lajja@publicsource.org.
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