Slippery Rock University wants to buy the former Har-Mer Elementary School in Harrisville to use the building as the site of its planned master of science in physician assistant studies degree.

HARRISVILLE — Slippery Rock University wants to buy the closed Har-Mer Elementary School.

SRU wants to use the building as the site of its planned master of science in physician assistant studies degree.

The Slippery Rock School Board voted Monday night to authorize Superintendent Alfonso Angelucci, business manager Paul Cessar and solicitor Mike Hnath to begin negotiations to sell the building.

The school board will have to approve any sale.

“We would expect negotiations to begin quickly,” said SRU spokesman Karl Schwab.

Har-Mer, which was one of the three elementary schools in the district, was closed in June 2013 because of declining enrollment in the district.

At the time of its closing, it had 99 students. At the same time, Slippery Rock Elementary School had 449 students and Moraine Elementary School had 402 students.

Schwab said getting a new building is necessary for SRU because the campus does not have enough classroom and laboratory space for the new program.

In December, the SRU council of trustees forwarded the plans for the new degree to the State System of Higher Education board of governors for approval. The governors meet next week.

Plans for the program include a pre-track program for SRU students majoring in biology, psychology or exercise science, allowing students to take three years of undergraduate work, then enter the program for the additional two-years of training.

A pre-track program for SRU students majoring in chemistry, therapeutic recreation, athletic training and public health also will be offered. The program would allow students to earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree.

Those graduating from SRU and other universities with degrees in all of the areas of study also are expected to apply for the program.

If everything falls into place, Schwab said the program could begin in the summer of 2016.

As part of the negotiations for the elementary school, a complete engineering study of the building and its potential remodeling costs will be done.

The single-story, 33,060-square-foot building is on 4.8 acres about 7 miles from SRU’s main campus.