close

Burgettstown votes for $4M loan to stay open

3 min read
1 / 2

Burgettstown Area School board voted 8-1 Monday to approve a $4 million loan to keep the school district operating after Christmas break.

2 / 2

Burgettstown Area School Board president Thomas Repole listens as superintendent Dr. James Walsh discusses trade-off costs of closing the school versus taking a $4 million loan.

BURGETTSTOWN – An 8-1 vote of Burgettstown Area School Board Monday to approve a $4 million loan means the school district will operate as usual despite the lack of a state budget.

The measure allows the school district to borrow the amount, but if a state budget is passed before Jan. 10, it would not have to close on the loan, according to Superintendent Dr. James Walsh.

The details of the loan show if the district moves forward, it would pay interest rates of 1.5 percent plus 70 percent of London Interbank Offered Rate, a standard international rate that floats typically between 0.15 and 0.36 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal. The total interest would not exceed 18 percent.

The board voted in front of about 80 people after hearing from several parents and students, as well as teacher and union president, Travis Closser, who said the effects of closing the district would have outweighed the costs of a loan. Merle Ayres cast the lone dissenting vote.

“Nearly 42 percent of our student body receives free or reduced lunches … Western Area Technology Center classes would continue, and we wouldn’t be able to transport those students. They would be behind. Add to that the services our special needs students rely on, with our case workers and teachers, and forcing parents to seek child care options,” Closser said.

Board member William Price lamented tax increases could be coming because of inaction from Harrisburg.

“I would like to see this kind of attendance at future meetings, not just at last-minute fiscal crises. Because we’ve been in fiscal crisis all schools have, when the legislature year after year cuts funding, and what do we have to do? Raise taxes. It’s a disgrace we don’t have a state budget. But even if we sent a message tonight, what would they do, because they’ve shown they don’t care. They should be ashamed and they should all be voted out,” Price said to applause.

Walsh said closing the school would have carried its own costs, as bills, bonds and health care would need paid, as well as unemployment for teachers. Details on the total monetary costs to the district if it closed were not clear.

“I never thought we’d be discussing this,” said board president Thomas Repole. “I thought our elected leaders would take care of this dirty work so we could have our hands into deciding normal things going on in our schools.”

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today