Freeport’s school board will decide either in favor of the overhaul of a high school in disrepair or to avoid spending on a project that will bring the district more than two decades of debt.

With a final decision on the proposed $55.37 million renovation project set for June 11, the board appears divided.

Making the decision on the Freeport Area School District’s future will be Gary Risch Jr., president; Sylvia Maxwell, Dino DiGiacobbe, Michael Huth, John Haven, Melanie Zembrzuski, Daniel Ritter, Christine Davies and Gregory Selinger.

The renovation debate has lasted for over four years now. In recent months, discussion had narrowed down to three options: the full, $55 million high school renovation, a lesser-scale option for $22 million or doing nothing.

Recent developments have influenced that choice. A report deeming the school’s sewage system a “total failure” has highlighted the need for large-scale repairs of the building’s outdated features.

The final vote on approval of renovating the high school follows several delays. The board was originally supposed to vote in March, but said at that meeting it would vote in May. At the May 14 meeting, the board delayed it until this month, when the board will also vote on the final 2025-26 budget on June 11.

The exact dollar amount Freeport Area School District will have available to spend in 2025-26 won’t be known until later in the summer, when the state budget is passed. Business manager Brad Walker said the district has budgeted based on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal. Right now, the district budget is expected to increase by $1.62 million — 3.28% more than last year — with a total $39.7 million in spending proposed.

The proposal would mean a $219,000 deficit projected for the 2025-26 academic year.

The district’s existing fund balance, which has fluctuated up and down since 2017, is currently expected to be $6.94 million in 2025-26.

According to official documents, the district has a projected deficit of around $1 million for each of the next three years.

Freeport’s existing millage rate for Butler County residents is 176.37 mills. It is 61.76 mills for Armstrong County residents. Up to this point, the school board has considered proposals of raising the rate from between 1% and up to the state index level of 5.3%. A 1% increase would put the millage rate at 178.34 mills for Butler County residents, while the 5.3% increase would put it at 185.91.

In total, the real estate tax revenue difference between the two rates would only differ by slightly over $1 million. As of the June 4 committee meeting, the board has not indicated how much they plan on raising the tax rate.

Between the need for renovations at the high school and the current budget status, board members have had to weigh concerns between the building’s needs and the short-term and long-term impact on the Freeport taxpayer.

Several physical elements of the school are falling apart.

In mid-April, a CJL Engineering representative labeled Freeport’s sewage system situation as a “complete system failure,” following two years of mitigations by the district. Estimates for full replacement costs are $3 million to $4 million. This is in addition to a full roof repair, plus HVAC, plumbing, electrical work and other general construction.

A feasibility study for the district was conducted by HHSDR in April 2024, offering various construction options. The study showed six potential variations of fixing the school, from relocating students between existing buildings and minor repairs, to building an entirely new high school.

The proposals ranged widely in cost, with the cheapest option at just under $22 million, while building an entirely new high school would cost just over $109 million, according to the study. The board narrowed the choices down to three options, but with the sewage system report and the state of the roof, it has increasingly focused on a potential $55 million full scale renovation of the existing building.

Due to the circumstances, the administration asked the board to add fixes to the sewage system and the roof as separate items to the agenda for the June 11 meeting with the hope they will get started this summer, sooner than the rest of the project. Board president Risch called the sewage and roof projects “high priority.”

However, representatives from HHSDR told the board it would need to deal with issues such as potential asbestos removal and extensive work around putting in new concrete. Replacing a sewer line would involve the asbestos removal, cutting through the floor, replacing the line, putting in new flooring and fixing whatever else was affected during the repair.

They said it’s easy to damage the flooring during the renovation that would follow. So the representatives recommended that if the sewage is put in early, new flooring isn’t put in until after further renovations are complete. This would mean some classrooms would temporarily have a bare concrete floor.

Risch said there’s “no doubt” in his mind the project should happen. With the potential for the situation to get worse, smells in parts of the building and crushed terra-cotta piping that needs replaced, he’s argued the sewage system needs to be fixed quickly.

Board members have also openly worried that future inflationary costs could drive up prices, making future options even more expensive if they need to renovate.

“I’m saying if it’s gotten to that point — we already have reports saying it’s a full system failure, and we have sewers that are backed up through drains and stuff like that — we have to go start that process quicker than the whole project. We’re able to do that along with the project so we’re not doing things twice,” Risch said.

The sewage project would take two summers to complete. Meanwhile, the roof is also overdue for repairs, according to school administration. Superintendent Ian Magness said due to previous issues, a cap sheet was inserted in the school’s roof with a surface life of 10 years. This happened at least 15 years ago.

“We’ve all talked about this internally ad nauseam, but I think our recommendation is just to replace it. Because the cap sheet was put on it 15, 20 years ago just to get us by, but no new insulation or anything, so we need to get that to spec,” Magness said.

When a renovation, if approved, would truly roll around there are other important aspects the district will have to deal with. In the past, comments from “student school board members,” student representatives that attend the meetings, have highlighted several areas students would like to see improved. Those include the need for updated air conditioning as rooms get hot in warmer weather, an updated public address system, fixing bathrooms that are missing doors and locks, and other general upkeep.

So far, board members Risch, Davies and Huth have expressed openness to supporting the renovation in recent months.

“There can be no zero option,” Davies previously said March 12. “For the sake of this building, things are gonna have to be fixed.”

Previously, Huth said the district shouldn’t be looking at anything less than a 3% millage increase to help with immediate funding of a renovation.

Opposing thoughts have come from other board members in past meetings.

At the Wednesday, June 4, committee meeting, board member Ritter criticized the board for what he saw as rushing toward the $55 million option, when in months past it was open to the cheaper choice.

“I thought at that time two months ago, the majority of the people were saying we didn’t have enough support for the $55 million, that we were more down with less than $30 million, but we’re now strictly at $55 million,” Ritter said.

In response, Risch said the sewage report showed a clear priority, and that renovating the school’s auditorium was also a more prominent issue.

Though DiGiacobbe has made no comments recently, he has also shown concern over spending.

“As far as the high school, I’ve always been in favor of keeping the current high school. But that’s where I’m at right now,” DiGiacobbe said Feb. 5. “I’m definitely not in favor of the $55 million plan, I’m not in favor even of $21, $22 million, right now let’s take care of things that we need to.”

Paying off debt from borrowed money for the project is also a concern for board members. The issue came up when board member Maxwell asked how long it would take for the project to be completely paid off. The answer: 2046.