Bensalem Starts New School Year With 'Uncertainty'

BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA — The Bensalem Township School District enters the 2026-2027 with no new superintendent, plans for a new middle school off the table right now, and a financial portfolio that has been battered and bruised over the past year.

"I know there is still some uncertainty in our community right now," School Director Leann Hart said. "We’ve experienced a lot of change, and not everything about the road ahead feels settled."

With the new school year starting Monday, the school district has yet to replace Superintendent Samuel Lee.

Lee — who had received a new four-year contract last year — stepped down in March after reports that the school district has a "severe financial situation."

The superintendent search committee has whittled down the list of 27 applicants to 11 candidates being selected for the first round of interviews.

In the meantime, the district is being run by interim Schools Superintendent Victoria Velazquez.

Meanwhile, talk of a new middle school collapsed after the district faced a major deficit where the school board was told "that we were in such a hole that we couldn't afford anything," School Board Vice President Stephanie Gonzalez Ferrandez told Patch recently.

At last week's meeting, School Director Rodger Allen was telling the board about how the charter school is building a new gym and they have a $25 million fund balance, Ferrandez said.

"I quipped that we couldn't even build a doghouse due to the lack of money," she said.

The school board adopted a 4.2 percent property tax hike for the 2026–27 school year, ending an enduring "severe financial crisis." Ferrandez voted against the measure.

Faced with a $16 million deficit, the Bensalem School Board took action by eliminating over 30 staff positions — including nine administrative roles and nearly two dozen instructional staff — and drew $1.9 million from its fund balance to help close the deficit.

Hart said that she is hopeful that once school doors open and the school buses roll in, the focus will be on teachers and staff once again serving students.

"Classrooms will once again be filled with students learning, growing, creating, and discovering who they are," Hart said. "To every teacher, paraprofessional, administrator, counselor, secretary, custodian, bus driver, food service worker, and staff member across Bensalem Township School District, thank you for the work you have already done to prepare for this year, and for everything you will do in the months ahead."