Kathy Mellott
kmellott@tribdem.com
GREENSBURG —
The projected financial benefit from closing Laurel Valley Middle-High School will shrink significantly if all of the students who appear headed for cyber school actually enroll, it was revealed in court Friday.
Ligonier Valley school board member and New Florence resident John Maier testified that 24 students have already registered for cyber school. It also was learned that 50 additional students are in the process of registering.
Calculating an average cost of $10,000 per student, the rush to cyber education could cost the district several hundred thousand dollars.
Projections are that net savings to the district by closing the school located in the northern tier of Westmoreland County would total about $850,000 annually.
While school districts receive state reimbursement of about $5,000 for every student they educate, the district must make up the difference charged by the cyber provider.
A cyber education can run from a low of $7,000 to $13,000 for special-needs students.
Friday’s testimony was part of a half-day of testimony held in the ongoing civil nonjury trial prompted by the lawsuit filed in May by a residents’ group calling itself Save Our Rams Education, or SORE.
In what was originally scheduled as a two-day trial, the testimony required four days last week and a full day Monday, and indications are a number of witnesses remain.
The next trial day is Aug. 23, the day teachers in the district are set to return to work and Westmoreland County Judge Gary Caruso hopes to wrap things up.
“On Aug. 23, I plan to go until this is finished, or until we can’t go any longer,” he told the packed courtroom.
Students are scheduled to go back to classes Aug. 30, and without a decision all of the 300 who went to the Laurel Valley school will go to Ligonier Valley middle or high school.
The board, in a nearly unanimous vote, agreed in April to close the Laurel Valley school effective at the end of June, sending the students to Ligonier Valley, 13 miles to the south.
SOAR in May filed the civil lawsuit asking the court to overturn the board decision. The argument is based on allegations that the board did not complete due diligence looking at any and all options before acting.
SOAR’s attorney, Joel Sansone, is attempting to show that the school board ignored “essential, vital evidence” and was aware of the extreme public interest before members voted 8-to-1 to consolidate.
Caruso can overturn the board’s decision only if he finds that it was arbitrary or capricious or that the decision was made in bad faith.
Maier, a graduate of Laurel Valley High School who worked for the Richland School District in an administrative capacity for 30 years, spent the afternoon on the stand responding to cross- examination.
Maier said he accepted an appointment to the board in 2008 and ran successfully for election with the idea of closing one of the schools.
“I did (run) to consolidate schools, yes,” he said responding to questioning by Sansone.
He denied an allegation that his motivation for consolidation was financial.
“The major motivator was improved educational opportunities for the children,” he said.
Many of the questions by Sansone dealt with the intentions of two community groups, Friends of Ligonier and Valley Action Pact, that he said focus on a variety of purposes – much more than consolidation of the schools.
The Laurel Valley school underwent $10 million worth of renovations 14 years ago and the district continues to make payments on the financing package.
Closing the school will result in a loss of $102,000 annually in state bond reimbursement, a figure that had been calculated before reaching the projected net savings.
The district will continue for several years to make the loan repayments. Maier said he could not could provide the figure. He said it is part of the annual budget under debt service.
Caruso asked Maier a number of questions about what appeared to be the board’s attempts to limit public involvement in the decision to close the school.
But Maier said that while policies were adopted to limit each speaker to three minutes at public board meetings and restrict topics to items on the agenda, the action did not come until after the vote four months ago to close Laurel Valley.
