With all of the other issues with the plan to close the Sheffield and Youngsville High Schools, is there the possibility of the district losing revenue due to this decision? Have they already lost revenue due to just the discussion of closing schools? What happens with yet another empty building? What happens when the district finally sells a building? Is there a gain? Is there any costs to the district by a vacant building?

So how would the district lose revenue? Well considering that every resident in the attendance area of Youngsville will be losing a high school, which is huge amenity, they could get their property taxes lowered.

Now arguably, not every resident will do this, enough will have an affect on the revenue that the district will gain from the second biggest tax area. I am definitely one of these people that will get my taxes reduced.

I bought my house specifically where I did because of having a preschool, elementary school, and high school within close proximity. I know for a fact that I am not the only one that will be doing this from discussions that I have had with other members of the surrounding community. There will also be no growth in this area due to losing the school to bring in revenue to make up for the loss in property taxes.

The next biggest hit in revenue will be from students leaving the district for other options like Pa Cyber. One of the community members actually did a survey and sent it to the district to give them an idea of the loss that could be expected from this. If memory serves the figure of around $600,000 was brought up without the number of students being a hard to imagine amount.

The district needs to think back to the hearing on this matter and recall the number of students who actually stated that they will be making the move to Pa Cyber if this goes through. Now some could change their mind, but that is unlikely with how fed up people have gotten with the district and their past decisions.

Twelve students were lost at the beginning of all these discussions this year alone and this was due to the parents being fed up with the district and tired of what their kids are being put through by the district. How many students are on the waiting list to get in at the Tidioute Charter School? How many of these students are already in Cyber or will be pushed in that direction?

I know of two students who are a guaranteed loss and those are my two oldest. They will not be attending Eisenhower due to the many issues that will happen. Why doesn’t the district look into ways to bring these students back to the brick and mortar buildings?

What happens to the building when a school closes? Well historically, the district ends up holding onto the building for an extended period of time. Just look at how long the district still had the old Pittsfield Elementary building. During this time, the district is still responsible for the building.

So,what about the monthly bills the district will still be required to pay on the Youngsville High School building until it is sold off? When the district does finally sell off these buildings, it is at a very low amount. I believe that the Pittsfield property sold for somewhere around $50,000 and the Pleasant Township building was even less, around $27,000.

Doubtful that this small amount of money was all that helpful to the district. What about the monthly bills associated with the schools that were shutdown in the past? Can’t the district consolidate some of the buildings that they held onto and eliminate the monthly bills on these? In closing, what about the loss of revenue from taxes and more students leaving the district for Pa Cyber? Has the district even thought of this?

It sure doesn’t seem like it because other than the community members, the district has not said a word about this. They do not seem concerned at all over losing students from the district. What about the loss of revenue due to having to maintain and pay the monthly bills for an empty school building and the extra buildings that the district still has? Just more questions that the district can’t or doesn’t want to answer.

How about this question: Has the district looked into saving money and cutting costs in other ways instead of closing more schools? Just more unanswered questions for another day.

Hal Dunkle is a Pittsfield resident.