Brownsville School Board maintains status quo
BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville Area School Board voted Thursday to maintain the status quo by not approving plans to build a new elementary school or renovate existing schools.
Three proposals were discussed during a special meeting called to weigh the pros and cons of construction options. If the board had approved a proposal, it would have been able to meet the Oct. 1 deadline to have qualified for state funding.
One option proposed to spend between $19 million and $20.4 million to build a new elementary school and consolidate and close Central and Cox-Donahey elementary schools. The new school would have built at the Hiller Elementary site. No renovations were planned for the Brownsville Area middle/high school.
This proposal failed to get the five votes needed to move forward. Directors Andy Dorsey, Ron Dellarose, Cheryl Terravechia and John Harvey voted for the measure while Andy Assad voted against this plan.
Delarose said a new elementary school would alleviate overcrowding and offer more space for expansion because the district is growing because of a new housing development.
“We should think outside the box and for the future,” he said.
Assad questioned how a district that is “broke” is going to pay for such a project. He expressed concerns that state budget cuts, the state may reduce the 40 percent matching share it would contribute to the project.
“At this time, I’m not comfortable with the cuts we’ve gotten from Harrisburg the last two years, so I don’t believe we can raise any taxes or put any more burdens on our taxpayers,” Assad said. “There were also other questions about the size of the proposed school and how the district would be able to afford the project.”
District business manager Mike Gigliotti said the money to pay for the $19 million to $20.4 million project would come from refinancing a $8 million bond into a $12 million bond — a move that wouldn’t cost the district any additional money.
He said when the project is under way, the district could borrow the additional $6 million to $8 million more that is needed to pay for the project.
“If the project had gone through, there would have been money there to pay for the project,” Gigliotti said.
“And it was anticipated that the state would provide funding for the project.”
Dorsey said no tax increases would have been necessary to pay for the project if plans were made to fit the budget.
“If we do this thing the right way, we could do this without a tax increase,” he said.
Directors discussed two other options before making their decision.
One option proposed to spend between $5 million and $5.5 million for minor renovations that would address high priority deficiencies at Central and Cox-Donahey.. No renovations were planned for the Brownsville Area middle/high school.
“It maintains all the of the buildings,” a Brownsville Area School District Facility Study said. “This option perpetuates the operation of two elementary facilities and avoids closing any school. This band-aid approach would likely cause operations and maintenance to become increasingly inefficient and costly.”
Another option proposed to spend between $13.5 million and $14.6 million to consolidate Cox-Donahey and Central elementary schools. Central would close and its students would move to Cox-Donahey, which would be renovated and altered to accept the addition students.
Central’s enrollment is 415 students while Cox-Donahey has 373 students. No renovations were planned for the Brownsville Area middle/high school.
“Cox-Donahey is the flagship elementary school that would be maintained with the goal to close Central,” the study said.
Harvey said it is better to build a new school than repair and maintain 50-year-old buildings.
“We have one option that is a band-aid, another option that is middle of the road, while the best option of building a new school would have provided longterm financial stability for the district,” he said. “We will now continue to pursue other options.”