Investment In a Real Future
While our school district is great, we're not #1. Instead of wasting money on expensive buildings that still won't get the job done, we should be investing in our teachers and our curriculum.
QV's expenditure per student is the most expensive in Western PA. It is about 40% above the average of the best schools in our region and exceeds by an even greater margin the smaller schools that it competes with in athletics. The cost per student has risen almost 3 fold in the last 25 year.
WHAT QUALITY OF EDUCATION ARE WE SEEKING?
Quaker Valley schools are ranked in the top ten districts in Southwestern Pennsylvania. This is an indicator that the quality of the education our students receive is not dependent upon the infra structure provided. It is the amount we spend on quality teachers, their professional development, curriculum and other educational resources.
In Fact, the Executive Summary of the commissioned Brainspaces Report states “Learning experiences matter as much or more than physical spaces.”
Presently, we spend 13% of the entire annual budget servicing existing debt. If we increase our debt by 100+ million dollars, how will our budget be impacted? Will there be less money for teachers and programs, or will our taxes rise significantly, or both?
Schools and universities are increasingly looking at remote learning options. This pandemic has forced us to consider a different idea. The School board should pause to consider if the “school of the future” they envision is, in fact, a school of the past.
We aren’t saying that the high school doesn’t need improvement. We’re saying it should be done on the same site with a budget, rather than a wish list without a voter referendum.
The School Board maintains that the community can be involved by attending Board meetings. However, you should know that in a board meeting you may speak, only if you’ve signed up, for 3 minutes. No matter what you say or ask, the Board will not respond. Neither will they, at any point, send you answers to questions posed. How can this be considered involvement?
They have the ear of the Sewickley Herald and publish stories regarding their progress on this effort. Yet, the Sewickley Herald will not publish a story regarding questions or doubts about the soundness of the district’s plan. Instead, you may purchase ad space or you may send a 250- word letter to the editor. How can the community be reached?
Sometime in 2019, the School Board decided to forego a referendum. They have not, at any point since that time, made themselves available for a public discussion of their decision and plan. They will tell you that they are unable to have a public forum now because of the pandemic, but they haven’t halted their progress to hear what we have to say. How can anyone imagine that they care for any ideas but their own?
The School Board has not been forthcoming regarding information both on the current high school and the hilltop plan. CGS had to file legal Right-to-Know Requests in order to get any information. And though the School Board likes to say they’ve been planning this for a decade, they only thought to post any information regarding any plan on their own webpage in the past year. FYI: The School Board has hired a Public Relations Agency, using taxpayer dollars, to sell us the idea of the new high school. But they refuse to have a referendum.
Repeatedly, in the Sewickley Herald and in the School District’s own publications, they baldly state this project will cost 85 – 95 million dollars. This is a patently untrue statement.
It is untrue for the following reasons:
1) The 85 -95 number does not include the cost of the purchase of the land, which is 10 million.
2) It does not include the cost of a football stadium, soccer, or lacrosse fields, which together with other items they desire will total 17 million additional dollars according to their own estimates.
Using their numbers, the cost of this project is 125 million. However, this number also is suspect. For, if we wait 2 years to break ground and 3 more to build, costs will certainly have risen.
People may decide that this is what they wish. They may decide this is worth the cost. But they have the right to decide. A referendum should occur before any other action is taken.