Current State of the Armstrong School District

Editorial by Adam Scaife

Does the ASD have a short term and a long term plan for improvement to the student’s education while being fiscally responsible to the tax base? If so, what is this plan? The previous board did have a plan for fiscal responsibility while offering a broader curriculum range to the students of the Elderton attendence area. This was the painful, but correct, plan that the previous board and Dr. Kerr had implemented, but this plan has been torn apart, shredded, and flushed. What is the new board majority’s plan? Returning to the status quo is the only answer that we find to this point.

The ASD must plan for the future and stop living in the past and present. It has always been that way and it will always be that way is not acceptable any longer. There are pension fund expenditures coming in the future that are going to cripple many school districts in the state in addition to the ASD. Over the past 40 plus years the ASD has: an ever aging and increasingly geriatric tax base living on fixed incomes, declining student enrollment, loss of industry (tax base), increasing low income and government subsidized incomes, and lower property values than the surrounding successful school districts. Do we not want to improve? Do we not want to be able to offer the best to the students that our tax dollars have to offer?

Please explain how re-opening Elderton Jr. Sr. High School provides a benefit to ALL students and ALL tax payers within the ASD. What is the benefit to the Elderton Jr. Sr. High School students other than the very low student to teacher ratio. This has not provided any stellar results. It has, however, kept the students from enjoying a broader curriculum range. With the age of the internet and online classes will the students on the Elderton campus not still require an adult observer or supervisor when in the classroom? The people of East Brady, Worthington, Shannock Valley, Kittanning, Ford City, and Dayton would like to understand where the benefit for ALL is in this re-opening of Elderton Jr. Sr. High School. These areas have all experienced closures and consolidations. East Brady, Worthington, Shannock Valley, and Dayton areas closures and consolidations have been very similar to the closure and consolidation of Elderton attendance area. We are very aware that East Brady is no longer a part of the ASD. They were, however, closed and consolidated when still a part of the ASD. Following that they successfully seceded to Karns City School District.

Please do not misunderstand us. We do not want Elderton to secede. This is because the people from Elderton are good, upstanding people that contribute positively to the community. We want your children to have as stellar of an education as possible, but not at the expense of other children’s education within the district. The misconception that the ASD needs Elderton and their taxes in the ASD is not factual. However, Elderton attendance area does need the ASD in order to keep their facilities open. Surrounding school districts sought for consolidation will not keep the Elderton Jr. Sr. High School open. Our wanting for Elderton to remain within the district has nothing to do with revenues provided by the Elderton attendance area. That is like filling a bucket with water only to find that there is a leak in bottom side of the bucket. Everyone has access to the data from the ASD for attendance area revenues and expenditures. We urge you to review them. Yes, if Elderton attendance area is to remain within the ASD, the ASD needs to close and consolidate Elderton in order to reduce expenditures in facilities and staffing. This is where the greatest gains are to be had. However, positive revenue stream for the ASD is also created by a secession of Elderton along with their revenues.

If secession is truly pursued by Elderton attendance area, for the price tag placed on the buildings you will find that the insured values of the facilities and assessed market value of the acreage should be a fair market price. Do insurance companies generally place higher replacement values on facilities that they insure? Regardless, the insured value of the buildings and the assessed market value of the acreage is the place to begin negotiation at a minimum. When Sugar Creek Elementary was closed by the ASD and re-opened to be continued to be used as an elementary school by the Karns City School District they paid for the facilities as such at that time. Other facilities that were closed and no longer to be used as a school have gone at lower prices. Which way would be preferred when the district's buildings are assessed for their value? Additionally, comments have arisen about the portion of the ASD’s debt that Elderton attendance area is responsible for. Elderton has contributed to the debt of the ASD. Is Elderton attendance area to have the rest of the district pick up their portion of the debt tab for them? Again, please explain the logic in this to the people of: East Brady, Worthington, Shannock Valley, Dayton, Kittanning, and Ford City.

The buildings that are currently in use by students from the Elderton attendence area are not over crowded. If they would have been, the state would never have allowed the consolidation of these students into these facilities. Every other attendance area of the district has suffered through closures and consolidations. Elderton’s time to do so is now for the best of ALL the students and ALL of the tax payers of the district. Dr. Kerr and the previous board made the correct painful decision.