BUFFALO TWP — Freeport Area School District is days away from finding out if it’s $55 million in the hole for large-scale high school repairs.

Freeport’s school board is one step closer to making that ultimate decision. It will have a vote at its June 11 board meeting on whether to move forward. The vote will wrap up what has turned into four years of discussion on what to do.

The proposal is a $55.37 million dollar renovation of the existing high school building. Up until this week, the board has been contemplating that option, along with a lesser-scale $22 million option, or no renovation at all.

A final vote on approval of renovating the high school has been delayed several times since March. It was originally supposed to vote in March, but said at that meeting it would vote in May. The most recent meeting, May 14, they delayed it until this month, when the board will also vote on the final budget approval for the 2025-26 academic year.

It is still unknown how the board will vote. At Wednesday’s meeting, board member Daniel Ritter criticized the board for what he saw as rushing toward the $55 million option, when it months past it was open to the cheaper choice. In February, Dino DiGiacobbe said during a meeting he was opposed to either renovation option due to cost.

In past meetings, board president Gary Risch Jr. and board member Christine Davies both expressed that the building needs urgent fixes, and cannot wait any longer.

Along with the renovation, the board will vote next week weather to approve a $39.7 million budget, an increase of $1.26 million from the previous year. The proposal has the district pulling from its existing fund to cover a $219,177 difference between expenditures and revenues, a deficit that was originally estimated to be over $430,000.

The school district will also have to decide how much to raise the millage rate for next school year. If it raises it by 1%, Butler County residents will see their taxes go up by 1.97 mills. If the board raises it to the state index of 5.3%, taxes could go up by 9.54 mills. The board was considering options anywhere from 1 to 5.3% as of the June 4 meeting.