Antietam Board Weighs 5.3% School-Tax Cap, Power Deal

The Antietam School Board hears Monday a pledge not to raise property taxes for 2027-28 by more than 5.3%, and a three-year deal to buy the district's electricity at $0.06994 per kilowatt-hour. Both are Finance Committee items on the Nov. 9 workshop agenda, along with a state tax-equity grant resolution and 23 policy readings. Workshops are for discussion; the agenda says "The next voting meeting will take place on Monday, November 16, 2026, at 7:00 pm in the District Office Boardroom." The workshop is Monday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at 100 Antietam Road, Reading, per the district's meeting-dates page; the Curriculum and Policy committee agendas put their sessions at 5:30 and 6:15 p.m.

The cap is higher than the 3.6% Oley Valley and the 4.6% Governor Mifflin took up this month, because the state's formula allows more to districts with less property wealth and income behind them.

The tax pledge

Act 1 is Pennsylvania's 2006 school property-tax law. Each year the state sets an "index" for every district, and a board that wants to raise taxes by more than its index needs either state-approved exceptions or voter approval at a referendum. The agenda asks the board to "Approve the Accelerated Budget Opt Out Resolution certifying the tax rate with the inflation index, not to raise taxes above the adjusted index of 5.3% for the 2027-2028 fiscal year as presented." The resolution itself is not posted.

The base index averages the growth in Pennsylvania's average weekly wage and a federal index of school employment costs, per the state's Act 1 index page; the Pennsylvania Bulletin notice of Sept. 5 set it at 3.6% for 2027-28, up from 3.5% this year per the state's base index history. A district whose "market value/personal income aid ratio" is above 0.4000 gets an adjusted index, found by multiplying the base index "by the sum of 0.75 and their MV/PI AR." A higher ratio, which the state assigns to districts with less market value and income behind them, means a bigger allowed increase. The state's 2027-28 adjusted-index table lists Antietam's 2026-27 aid ratio at 0.7265 and its index at 5.3%, against 0.5355 and 4.6% for Governor Mifflin; by our arithmetic, 3.6% times 1.4765 is 5.32%.

The opt-out resolution trades the right to go higher for a simpler budget calendar. The state's sample resolution has a board certify "that it will not increase any school district tax" for the coming year "at a rate that exceeds the index," and states that by passing it the board "is not eligible to seek referendum exceptions under Section 333(f) of Act 1 and is not eligible to request approval from the voters through a referendum" to exceed the index, while the administration "is not required to comply with the preliminary budget requirements" of Act 1. Referendum exceptions are the four state-approved reasons, for construction debt, special education and retirement costs, that let a district exceed its index without a vote. Every board makes the choice each year, per the state's guidance; the 2027-28 timeline puts the deadline at Jan. 28, 2027.

A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value; our guide explains how the school share of a Berks tax bill works. The county's 2026 tax-rate table lists the Antietam school rate at 53.8 mills in both Mount Penn and Lower Alsace Township, the highest school rate in the county per our rate guide. The district's 2026-27 budget form, adopted June 22, shows the same 53.8000 mills, up from 51.3000 in 2025-26, a 4.88% increase the form marks as within last year's 5.2% index. The budget totals $30,563,100.

Nothing on Monday's agenda proposes any increase; the board sets the rate when it adopts the 2027-28 budget, due by June 30 under the state timeline. By our arithmetic, 5.3% of 53.8 mills is about 2.85 mills, so the owner of a property assessed at $100,000, who now pays $5,380 a year in Antietam school tax, would pay about $285 more only if the board used the whole index next June. That assumes 53.8 mills stays the base and ignores the homestead exclusion, which the budget form sets at $9,642.27 of assessed value for 1,528 approved properties.

The board took the same step last Dec. 2, when the agenda carried identical wording at "5.2% for the 2026-2027 fiscal year" and the minutes record an 8-0 roll call on a block of six finance motions. The state's index history puts Antietam's index at 5.9% for 2025-26 and 7.8% for 2024-25.

A three-year electricity contract

The second item would "Approve the three (3) year agreement with Constellation for the supply portion of the electrical service at $0.06994 per kilowatt-hour as presented." The supply portion is the generation charge: a Pennsylvania customer can switch "the company that generates your electricity," while "the distribution service, remains with your local electric utility," per the Public Utility Commission's PAPowerSwitch site. The agenda gives no start date, usage estimate or current price, so the contract's dollar value is not in the agenda.

The same price appears on another Berks agenda the same night. Hamburg Area's Nov. 9 agenda asks its board to "Ratify Penelec School Districts Retail Electricity Supply Proposal with Constellation Energy for the period July 1, 2027 – June 30, 2030 at the kWh price of $.06994." Antietam's agenda does not name Penelec, give dates or say the two districts are buying together.

A second resolution for state money

The board is also asked to "Approve the Ready to Learn Block Grant Tax Equity resolution as presented." The Tax Equity Supplement is a state grant to certain districts under the Ready to Learn Block Grant; the state's program page says "TO BE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE AVAILABLE MONEY, THE LOCAL BOARD OF SCHOOL DIRECTORS MUST ADOPT A RESOLUTION" that declares "the school district's intent to receive and use the available money" during the following fiscal year, and that it "is NOT the ACT 1 resolution." The 2026-27 state budget added $32,202,000 to the supplement statewide, with applications open from Nov. 2 and due Feb. 28, 2027, per the block grant page. The agenda does not give a figure, but the district's 2026-27 budget form (p. 6) counts $331,675 from the Tax Equity Supplement, the same amount the state's 2026-27 allocation sheet lists for Antietam. The board passed the same pair of resolutions last Dec. 2.

Also on the agenda

• Finance: "the agreement with Conrad Seigal in the amount of $5,500 for the annual preparation and filing of the ACA-mandated reporting for the 2026 calendar year," the employer health-coverage forms the Affordable Care Act requires. The firm spells its name Conrad Siegel.
• Finance: a $1,980 donation from the Antietam Valley Community Partnership to cover "RAAC dual enrollment for 5 students" at $297 each, paid to parents, and Alvernia University dual enrollment for two students at $270 each, paid to Alvernia, with "the remaining balance of $45.00" from the Guidance Building Account. The agenda writes "RAAC"; Reading Area Community College, which calls itself RACC, lists dual-enrollment tuition at $99 a credit, and $297 is three credits at that rate.
• Finance discussion: a "Time clock provider proposal," with no vendor or cost listed.
• Property: ratifying, after the fact, a $4,354 Johnson Controls agreement "for the programming and testing of the new Chairlift at the Kerry C. Hoffman building," where the Oct. 26 agenda carried a $28,000 Garaventa wheelchair lift.
• Policy: first readings of eight policies, including a new 140 Charter Schools, a new 140.1 on charter and cyber-charter students in extracurriculars, and new policies on persistently dangerous schools, victims of violent crimes and student services; second readings of nine; and third readings of six, including 120 Human Development Program, which the agenda notes "PSBA recommends retiring." PSBA is the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which drafts model policies; the Policy Committee agenda carries the same list.
• Curriculum: the committee agenda lists a pre-K survey, a Climb afterschool survey, KU reading interns and a BCIU support presentation by Dr. Felice Stern.

The missing minutes

Item 6 approves the minutes of the Oct. 19 workshop and the Oct. 26 voting meeting. Neither is on the district's agendas page, whose newest minutes, for Sept. 21 and Sept. 28, were posted Nov. 2. That leaves the Oct. 26 vote on electing Dr. Felice Stern assistant superintendent at $152,495.62 undocumented. Monday's agendas list her as "Dr. Stern" and "Dr. Felice Stern" without a title.

How to attend

Monday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m., District Office Boardroom, 100 Antietam Road, Reading 19606. Public comment is item 3, with a second slot at item 21; the agenda says "each speaker will be given a 3-minute time limit," that comment "is not intended to be a question-and-answer session," and that speakers should "state your name and address for the record." The board goes into executive session on "Personnel and Safety and Security" afterward and will not reconvene. The voting meeting is Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.; the reorganization meeting is Tuesday, Dec. 1, per the meeting-dates page.