Seneca Valley School District’s board became the second to vote against Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School funding approval for 2025-26.

The school board voted 6-0 against funding approval Monday, March 10, after contemplating the funding at a previous meeting. Three board members were absent from the meeting.

No additional comment was provided by board members at the time of the vote.

Kari Zimmer, Tim Hester, Leslie Bredl, Mike Jacobs, Jeff Widdowson and Nick Brower were the six board members to vote it down. Fred Peterson, Susan Harrison and board president Eric DiTullio were absent.

The proposed vo-tech budget would see a total operating cost of $7,253,631 for the 2025-26 academic year. This represents a 7.59% increase from the previous year.

Seneca Valley would provide $881,771 for 2025-26 in the proposed budget, the second most next to Butler Area School District’s $2,152,023. This would be an increase of about $58,000 from last year for Seneca Valley.

The school board had previously discussed the proposed vo-tech funding at the March 3 work session meeting. While the school board did not provide any strong indications on how they would vote, questions were raised. Board member Fred Peterson called the funding proposal at the time a “bitter pill to swallow.”

“So we leave you tonight with that bitter pill, needing to find a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down,” Peterson said March 3. “I’ve appreciated your hard work, and, if indeed we’re not able to vote in favor of your budget, I hope you won’t take it personally and you can continue to work with us to make things better next year.”

Peterson reiterated this message at the vo-tech’s Thursday, March 6, joint operating committee meeting.

Previously, Knoch School District’s board voted down vo-tech funding approval by a 5-2 margin. At their Feb. 12 board meeting, several board members expressed displeasure over spending increases stemming from the current teachers’ contract. Salaries and employee benefits make up a combined 76.56% of the proposed budget.

The teachers’ contract was approved by the vo-tech joint operating committee in December 2023 by a 9-3 vote.

Mars, Moniteau, Karns City, Slippery Rock Area and Butler Area school districts have all voted unanimously to approve 2025-26 vo-tech funding.

For vo-tech’s funding to get approved, it needs approval from five of the seven school districts, which it already has. It also needs the majority of individual school board members to vote in favor, which they do by mailing in a ballot.