The Bensalem School Board will vote Tuesday, February 18, on whether to raise property taxes by 8.25%—the largest increase in recent memory.
If you can’t read our full 6,000-word investigation before the vote, here are the five things you absolutely need to know.
1. Your Property Tax Bill Goes Up $347 Per Year
The median assessed home in Bensalem is valued at $23,200. At the current tax rate, that homeowner pays about $4,207 per year in school property taxes.
An 8.25% increase adds $347 per year—about $29 per month.
That might not sound catastrophic, but for families already stretched thin by inflation in groceries, insurance, and utilities, it’s significant. For seniors on fixed incomes, it’s even worse.
And if you rent? Landlords will pass this increase through to you. Bensalem’s 7,100 renter households will pay more without any of the homeowner tax benefits.
2. The Cause: Charter School Costs Doubled
This isn’t about teacher salaries, wasteful spending, or aging buildings.
The budget crisis comes down to one line item: charter school payments.
Bensalem’s preliminary budget shows charter school special education payments jumping from $7.4 million to $14.6 million—a $7.2 million increase in a single year.
That’s 79% of the district’s entire special education spending growth.
3. School Lane Charter’s Special Ed Enrollment Doubled in 4 Months
Here’s why charter costs exploded:
In September 2024, School Lane Charter School reported 58 special education students from Bensalem.
By January 2025—just four months later—that number hit 109 students.
That’s an 88% increase in one semester.
Pennsylvania law requires Bensalem to pay School Lane for every one of those students at rates based on the district’s average special education cost—about $38,000 per student.
51 new students × $38,000 = $1.9 million. But the actual budget impact is $7.2 million because of how the funding formula works.
4. Pennsylvania’s Funding Formula Makes It Worse
Here’s the problem: not all special education students cost the same to educate.
Tier 1 students (speech therapy, minor accommodations) might cost $15,000-$20,000 per year.
Tier 2 students (moderate support) might cost $30,000-$50,000.
Tier 3 students (intensive one-on-one care) can cost $75,000-$150,000 or more.
But Pennsylvania doesn’t pay charter schools based on which tier of student they serve. Instead, charters get paid based on the district’s average across all special education students.
So if School Lane enrolls mostly Tier 1 students but gets paid $38,000 each (the district average), they collect far more than it costs to educate those students.
Meanwhile, Bensalem keeps the expensive Tier 2 and Tier 3 students—which drives the district’s average even higher next year, which means School Lane gets paid even more for low-cost students.
It’s a fiscal death spiral.
The kicker? Pennsylvania doesn’t require charter schools to report tier-by-tier enrollment. So taxpayers have no way to verify whether School Lane is serving $18,000 students while collecting $38,000 payments.
Bensalem Weekly has filed Right-to-Know requests for this data. We’ll publish it when it arrives.
5. School Lane Has $58.7 Million in Assets
School Lane Charter School is a nonprofit—it has no shareholders or private owners. But that doesn’t mean there’s no money involved.
According to School Lane’s most recent IRS Form 990 filing, the organization holds $58.7 million in total assets. That’s roughly $43,800 per enrolled student—far more than most traditional public schools.
Executive compensation from the same filing:
- CEO Karen Schade: $210,300
- Elementary Principal: $168,850
- IB Campus Principal: $150,630
- Director of Special Education: $136,100
As a nonprofit, School Lane must reinvest surplus revenue into its educational mission. But Pennsylvania doesn’t require detailed accounting of how special education funds are spent, so taxpayers can’t verify how efficiently their money is being used.
In 2013, Pennsylvania’s Auditor General flagged School Lane for “improperly collecting $60,248” through a circular lease arrangement with a related foundation. School Lane disputed the findings and discontinued the structure. No one was prosecuted.
What You Can Do
The February 18 vote will decide whether you pay this increase. Here’s how to make your voice heard:
1. Attend the school board meeting
📍 Tuesday, February 18, 7:00 PM
2. Contact your state legislators
This isn’t just a Bensalem problem—it’s a Pennsylvania problem. The charter funding formula hasn’t been reformed since 1997 despite complaints from districts across the state.
Find your representatives at legis.state.pa.us and tell them Bensalem needs charter funding reform.
3. Stay informed
Bensalem Weekly will publish updates as tier distribution data arrives and will cover the February 18 vote in detail.
Read bensalemweekly.com or follow us on Facebook.
Want the Full Story?
This summary covers the basics, but the complete investigation includes:
✅ Detailed breakdown of Pennsylvania’s charter funding formula
✅ Analysis of School Lane’s financial structure and governance
✅ How other states solve this problem better than Pennsylvania
✅ Why legislative reform has failed for 27 years
✅ The impact on renters, seniors, and working families
✅ Links to all source documents (budgets, 990 filings, audits)
Read the full investigation: How a Charter School Spike Created Bensalem’s $12 Million Budget Crisis
Have questions? email storybox@bensalemweekly.com.
