The Mars Area School Board will not raise taxes in order to meet their 2019-20 school year budget.
Next year’s general fund budget of about $52 million is roughly $2 million higher than last year’s budget due to hiring and the purchase of curriculum materials and instructional tools to better implement the district’s math programs.
The proposed budget sustains all existing academic programs, as well as includes the hiring an additional elementary teacher, five special education teachers, five paraprofessionals, one social worker, one school psychologist and three school police officers.
The district says more than one million dollars to pay for this increased spending will come from a predicted continued increase in local revenue sources.
This budget is the 11th in the last 12 years which has not included a tax increase for Mars taxpayers.