EMMAUS, Pa. — East Penn School Board on Monday threw cold water on the prospects for major renovations at Emmaus High School anytime soon.
The board was told financial projections found the project would require a referendum or decades of tax increases.
Members of the board asked district officials to compare the cost of renovating the school to the cost of a realignment of fifth through eighth grades to determine whether moving ahead with the realignment would mean putting off work on the high school.
“I’d love a high school. I just don't see how we do it now, with the price tag and the impact to the taxpayer. It looks unattainable.”East Penn School Board member Shonta Ford
According to a presentation from the district’s financial planners, starting work on a $250 million renovation or construction project would require a ballot question asking voters to accept higher property taxes.
To fund the project without holding a referendum, East Penn would need to delay construction until 2036 and raise taxes by the state-mandated maximum every year through 2050, the consultants found.
The analysis did not consider undertaking both the realignment project and related expansion work and work on the high school, which would be more expensive still.
School board members balked at both options, potentially closing the door on major renovations to Emmaus High School for a generation.
“I’d love a high school,” board member Shonta Ford said. “I just don't see how we do it now, with the price tag and the impact to the taxpayer. It looks unattainable.”
At the very least, board members concluded there is no way East Penn can complete the realignment project and major work at the high school any time soon.
“It seems like this will need to be an either-or situation,” board member Gabrielle Klotz said.
Realignment
To prepare for increasing enrollment in the coming years, East Penn plans to change the way it groups grades into schools.
Currently, the district groups students into elementary schools housing kindergarten through fifth grade, middle schools housing grades six through eight and a high school serving grade nine and up.
After the realignment, first proposed in 2023, all of the district’s fifth- and sixth-graders would attend Eyer Middle School and seventh- and eighth-graders would attend Lower Macungie Middle School.East Penn Schools realignment plan
After the realignment, first proposed in 2023, all of the district’s fifth- and sixth-graders would attend Eyer Middle School and seventh- and eighth-graders would attend Lower Macungie Middle School.
Converting the school buildings and adding additional classrooms to several of them would cost East Penn about $95 million, the district estimates.
In recent financial projections that include the realignment’s cost, district staff projected that the district's property tax levy will increase by the Act One maximum for each of the next seven five school years.
