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CASD set to debate budget, Gordon closing
From Tuesday's story:
School Board President Donna Urban said that the district has the second lowest proposed tax increase in the county. Urban noted the elementary school renovation was not planned because the school district is in financial trouble. She said the district is slowly raising taxes now to avoid a large tax increase later.
“I’m really having a hard time with the tax increase,” said school board member Robert Knecht, who voted against the preliminary budget.
Diana Brownfield also voted against the preliminary budget and was the only board member to vote against plans to renovate the elementary school into an education center.
“In my eyes, Gordon is the little school that could,” said Brownfield. “It’s the heart of the district.”
CASD's proposed budget is balanced at $135.8 million and includes a plan to disperse Gordon's students among CASD's other six elementary schools. The building would then house the district's special education center.
CASD officials have estimated that move would save the district more than $2 million.
posted by Daily Local at
10:04 AM
10 Comments:
Like I said on the other post, here is a chance for Coatesville to take advantage of the Gordon school building for a rec center for the kids, the gym, the auditorium, maybe they don't need the whole building and could rent part of it from the school dist. just an idea. It would be a shame to tear it down as it is not really that old. I can still remember the tractor/trailers that used to park there in that lot before the school was built!
I find it extremely disappointing that this school district needs to raise taxes. Can they not function on a $130M budget?
To 5:01 p.m.
CASD has no intention of tearing down Gordon Elementary. The building will remain in use as the district's special education center, serving students in grade 6-12 -- at least that's the plan at the moment.
Sorry if that wasn't clear in the original post.
Why doesn't anyone every question why the Coatesville school budget went from $101 million two years ago to $130+ today. That is a 30% increase in two years.
You can debate the point that $130M+ is too much, but get your facts straight. The budget two years ago was $125.3M, NOT $101M. We haven't seen a budget around that number in over 5 years. The proposed budget for 08-09 is $135.8M which is a 1.32% increase. And did you forget about the two tax decreases and one year with 0%? The tax rate for 08-09 is still lower than it was 4 years ago in 2004.
The elementary schools are overcrowded as it is. Classes at Caln have between 18 and 25 students apiece. By closing Gordon, these class sizes will just get bigger and the educational value will decrease. Kids will get left behind as teachers struggle to attend to all the students' needs. I'm all for raising taxes if it means a better education and less profiting amoung the school district employees.Coatesville schools are struggling to maintain state mandatory requirements for education. How is this going to get better if they make the class sizes bigger and don't provide the children with additional help or materials? They need to re-think closing Gordon.
The new rainbow school has started construction, that will take care of the class overcrowding, but just to mention, when I was in school we always had 25-30 kids in my classes. no one said anything about that being over crowded. not sure why that amount is considered overcrowded in todays world.
As a taxpayer with no children "benefiting" from the CASD, I had NO clue about the proposed tax hike. The Board claims they are confident the "word is getting out" and the lack of concern over the increase means we are OK with it, couldn't be any more wrong. I don't want the CASD to jump on the bandwagon and vote on a hike; just like I don't want to pay more for PA American Water and PECO--enough's enough!
Perhaps part of the school could also be utilized as a day care center.
The elementary schools are not overcrowded. They are all within the guidelines for students per class. With the moving of Gordon students to other elementary schools, the admin. has already said these classes will still be within the guidelines for class size.
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