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Stephanie Benjamin and Anca Kovacs donate to the Weinberg No

AS EVERYONE in our Crestwood School District community is probably aware, each of us has a decision to make on Feb. 3 when we go to the polls to vote on the question of whether the district should incur the necessary debt to finance the proposed improvements to our high school/middle school complex. 
As a member of your school board, I supported placing this initiative on the ballot. The proposed project provides a comprehensive solution to the overcrowding issues in our high school and middle school, as well as the nearly full conditions at both elementary schools, while providing adequate space for the district&rsquo;s projected growth though the 2017-2018 school year and beyond.
 It also allows for the efficient incorporation of state-of-the-art technology systems into the proposed new high school to provide a meaningful and appropriate technology-based education to prepare our students for their futures.
A project of this magnitude requires a significant investment on the part of the community. I can attest that my school board colleagues spent many hours looking at the options. These options have ranged from making cuts to the educational programs we offer, to building a new stand-alone high school on a site yet to be determined.
Your school board has considered placing modular classrooms at our existing schools and even considered other building projects addressing only the overcrowding at the high school.
In fulfilling its responsibility, the school board selected the proposed expansion project because it offered a cost-effective and comprehensive solution.
In coming to this conclusion, I personally relied on my best sense of the educational needs of the community and my understanding of the options available to address them. As a school board member, I am responsible for ensuring that the community will be served well by being proactive in addressing these future needs and that suitable, comprehensive solutions are implemented in advance to avoid stopgap fixes made once those needs become unmanageable.
 When faced with making these decisions, often we cannot wait until we have every last possible piece of information. In this case, quite frankly, your board will never have that luxury, as population projections always change, economic conditions ebb and flow, and opportunities come and go. Meanwhile, our buildings continue to grow old and more crowded.
Is $56 million a significant cost? Absolutely.
Your school board is very concerned about the cost impacts of our educational programs on the taxpayers. None of the board members is immune to today&rsquo;s economic conditions and we are affected in many of the same ways as our constituents.
 Based on the latest information available to me (2006-2007 school year), Crestwood is ranked 498th out of the 501 school districts in Pennsylvania in cost-per-pupil spending, meaning only three school districts in the commonwealth spent fewer dollars per pupil. Yet Crestwood consistently ranks in the top one or two districts in Luzerne County by all measures of our educational outcomes. This demonstrates the outstanding value we are getting for our tax dollars, and is a credit to the excellent leadership and management of our administration, the efforts of our professional and support staffs, and the fiscal diligence of the current and former school board members.
If the expansion project is approved, and mindful of the fact that the project debt will be limited by the dollar amount in the referendum, your school board will continue to make many difficult decisions relative to the ultimate scope and cost of the project throughout the design development process prior to obtaining construction bids.  Considering the current economy, the project actually might be bid at a very favorable time for obtaining competitive bid prices and financing rates. Two of the most recent bids in the region have come in 20 percent below estimates, and in some cases financing has been obtained at rates below 4 percent. The most fiscally conservative thing to do is to bid when the economy is slow and to borrow when interest rates are low.
The largest burden for funding Pennsylvania&rsquo;s public schools falls on the local taxpayers, and each of us will be asked to bear our fair share. Although the proposed expansion project will be costly, it is also clear to me that the cheapest solution might not always be the best. Modular buildings, trailers (even if only for storage) and continued use of closets for instructional space are not part of my vision for the school district. Nor do I believe such things are the vision my constituents expected me to have for their schools when I was elected.
Working together, we must find an acceptable solution to these issues, which is why I supported placing this project on the referendum ballot.
On Feb. 3, each of us will need to decide whether to support this project or to vote against it.  I encourage each of you to thoughtfully consider all the facts and issues involved, and to vote as you feel you must.
The support and desire of our community will determine how we move forward, together, from that day.

Each Voter Has Say In Proposed Crestwood Expansion Commentary Ken Malkemes