There were no voting items on the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board agenda Monday night, but there were discussions on items that will be voted on before the school year ends.
School Buses
Director of Facilities James Whitesel said the administration is recommending the purchase of five electric school buses and a vote is scheduled for the Nov. 18 board meeting.
Several options had been discussed during the last several months and Whitesel said the administration is recommending purchasing the buses outright under what he termed “self-electrification.”
“This is the most cost-effective option as it takes advantage of over $1.5 million in rebates and grants toward the purchase of the buses,” he said and recommended a quote from RIDE Mobility for the five buses.
The total cost will be slightly more than $1.9 million. That cost is offset by a $1,000,000 grant from the EPA, $200,000 for IRA direct pay, and a $312,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection. That leaves a cost of $397,697 which is funded by the district’s Long Range Facilities Plan.
C.F. Patton Middle School
Superintendent of Schools Sanville reminded the board and the public that a decision needs to be made about the middle school.
“We continue to engage our greater community to make sure everyone has an opportunity to provide input as to what is the best path forward in regard to our middle school,” he said, then repeated the options. “We have three choices in front of us. It is to retain the current middle school, to renovate the current middle school, or to replace the middle school.”
Sanville continued by discussing the timeline for making the decision. He said the architecture firm of Marotta/Main, who’s conducting the feasibility study, will give a presentation in December during the second community conversation. That presentation will look at what each of the three options would look like. A special board meeting will be held on Jan. 6 just for a discussion on the options. That session will also include a recommendation from the administration. A vote on the matter is scheduled for February.
Sanville has said previously, that whichever option is chosen, it will still cost millions of dollars.
Budget
While townships are finalizing their proposed budgets for next year with the need to approve them by the end of next month, the school board is beginning to look at the district’s budget for the 2025-2026 academic year.
No hard and fast real numbers were discussed in terms of millage rates, but Director of Finance Joe Deady said Chadds Ford property owners will cover 20.75 percent of the real estate taxes because of how the county assesses properties. That’s down from last year’s 21.34 percent.
On the other side, Chester County property owners would cover 79.25 percent in next year’s budget compared to 78.66 for this current budget year, Deady said.
The timeline for approving the next budget starts in January with a proposed preliminary budget, followed by the adoption of that proposed budget in February. That proposal will begin having firmer numbers regarding anticipated revenues and expenses and proposed millage rates. There will be more discussion into May when the board will have a budget hearing before adopting a proposed final budget. A vote on approving the final budget will take place in June.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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