The Parkland School District budget tax increase for 2026–27 raises the real estate millage rate by 3.50 percent, from 17.80 to 18.42 mills, adding roughly $145 to the average homeowner’s annual school tax bill.1Parkland School District. Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget Summary It follows a 4.0 percent increase the year before, which moved the rate from 17.12 to 17.80 mills.2Parkland School District. 2025-2026 Budget Update
How to Calculate Your Own Bill
A millage rate of 18.42 means you pay $18.42 in school property tax for every $1,000 of your home’s assessed value. To find your bill, multiply your assessed value by 0.01842.
Parkland’s budget documents put the average residential assessed value at $233,431, which produces an estimated school tax of about $4,301 for the year, roughly $145 more than before.1Parkland School District. Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget Summary If your home is assessed at $300,000, your school tax works out to about $5,526, an increase of roughly $186 over last year. Your assessment is listed on your Lehigh County property tax notice, and your actual change depends on that figure, not the district average.
Why the Rate Keeps Going Up
Compensation drives the budget. In 2025–26, salaries accounted for $107.7 million and employee benefits added another $76.2 million out of roughly $248.8 million in total spending, meaning nearly three-quarters of every dollar goes to people costs.2Parkland School District. 2025-2026 Budget Update
A large share of the benefits line is pension cost the board cannot control. Employer contributions to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) run at 34.0 percent of covered payroll in 2025–26 and 33.59 percent in 2026–27, and more than 80 percent of that payment goes to paying down unfunded liability for benefits already earned in prior decades.3Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Employer Contribution Rate for FY 2025-20264Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Employer Contribution Rate Fact Sheet
Special education adds another cost the district cannot cap. Federal law requires a free appropriate public education for every eligible student with a disability, and a single student who needs a full-time aide or an out-of-district placement can add six figures to the budget.5Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. About IDEA Debt service on previously issued construction bonds added $10.2 million in 2025–26, a fixed obligation the board cannot reduce.2Parkland School District. 2025-2026 Budget Update
Local sources, overwhelmingly property taxes, supplied about 78 percent of the district’s $243.2 million in 2025–26 revenue.2Parkland School District. 2025-2026 Budget Update That is why rising costs translate so directly into higher millage.
Why the Increase Lands at 3.50 Percent
Pennsylvania’s Taxpayer Relief Act, known as Act 1, caps how much a school board can raise property taxes each year without voter approval.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Taxpayer Relief Act The limit is called the Act 1 Index, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education publishes an adjusted figure for each district every year. Parkland’s adjusted index for 2026–27 is 3.50 percent, which is exactly the increase the board proposed.1Parkland School District. Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget Summary
Act 1 also allows specific exceptions above the index without a public vote, most often for special education cost growth that outruns the index and for mandatory PSERS contribution spikes.8Pennsylvania General Assembly. Taxpayer Relief Act
When You Can Weigh In
The proposed budget has to be available for public inspection at least 20 days before the board votes to adopt it.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Public School Code of 1949 Parkland posts preliminary and updated budget documents on BoardDocs and holds public work sessions through the spring where board members walk through revenue assumptions and spending plans.
The final budget must be adopted by June 30 and takes effect July 1.9Pennsylvania Department of Education. General Fund Budget If you want your questions heard while tradeoffs are still open, April and May meetings are the window. By June, the major decisions are locked in.
Programs That Can Cut What You Owe
Two state programs can reduce your actual bill, and both require that you apply.
Homestead Exclusion
If you own and occupy your home as your primary residence, you may qualify for a homestead exclusion that reduces your assessed value before the tax rate is applied.10Pennsylvania DCED. Property Tax Relief Through Homestead Exclusion The exclusion is funded by state gaming revenue allocated to school districts under Act 1, so the dollar amount varies year to year. You have to file an application with Lehigh County; it is not automatic. Farmsteads of 10 or more contiguous acres used for commercial agriculture may qualify for a separate farmstead exclusion.
Property Tax/Rent Rebate
Pennsylvania’s Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program pays direct rebates to older adults and people with disabilities. You qualify if you are 65 or older, a widow or widower age 50 or older, or a person with a disability age 18 or older, and your household income is $48,110 or less.11Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program Standard rebates range from $380 to $1,000, and a supplemental rebate of up to $500 is available for homeowners whose property taxes exceed 15 percent of their income. Applications for the 2025 tax year are due by June 30, 2026.
What Happens If You Can’t Pay
Under the Real Estate Tax Sale Law, unpaid property taxes become delinquent on December 31 of the year they were due.12Pennsylvania General Assembly. Real Estate Tax Sale Law The tax collector returns the delinquent amount to the Lehigh County Tax Claim Bureau by the following April, and the bureau files a claim against the property by June 30. You have until January 1 of the next year to pay it off, or the claim becomes absolute and the property is eligible for an upset sale, a public auction held between the second Monday of September and year-end.
The full process from a missed payment to a possible sale spans about two years, but penalties and interest start building immediately. A partial payment is better than waiting for the claim to escalate, and the Tax Claim Bureau can discuss payment arrangements before the property reaches sale.