New Abington Middle School Would Cost Taxpayers $285M
Spring is here, and signs are springing up in Abington.
The signs either oppose or support a plan for the district to borrow $285 million to raze the current middle school and build a new one. Voters will be asked whether to increase their real estate taxes significantly in the May 20 primary, an off-year election with generally light voter turnout.
But the dueling signs may be a sign of more people than usual paying attention, perhaps because of the price-tag.
Owners of a home assessed at $127,000 (the median value) would pay an additional $648 a year in school taxes, bringing their annual total to $5,356.
“If this referendum passes, your school taxes will increase 13.5 percent,” warned Joe Rooney, chair of the Abington Township Rockledge Borough Republican Organization (ATRO). And that’s on top of the 5.28 percent hike the board already plans for 2025, he said. The $250 million bond at 5.5 percent interest over 40 years would cost taxpayers $700 million until it’s paid off.
Joe Rooney has been sounding the alarm over the possible tax increase and questioning whether the Abington School District needs a new middle school when renovating the current school would be more cost-effective.
The number of students in the public schools has been static, hovering around 8,500 pupils for several years now.
In January, the all-Democratic school board voted unanimously to build a new middle school and put the referendum on the ballot.
School Board President Melissa Mowry declined to respond to questions about the debate over the need for the new school. Instead, she directed DVJournal to a website the district set up to tout it. The district says the current 60-year-old middle school has aged and “the challenges of maintaining it and enhancing student learning experiences have increased.” They say the infrastructure is outdated and insufficient for “the evolving needs of students and teaching methods of the future.”
If voters approve the referendum, the new middle school would open for the 2029-2030 school year, with students continuing to go to classes at the old school while the new one is built.
Not so fast, Rooney said.
Rooney, a retired commercial pilot, told DVJournal he’s toured the current middle school and even checked out its roof, which he said does need to be replaced. But the middle school, which the district valued at $102 million in 2022, could be renovated for about $150 million or less, he said. At a board facilities committee meeting in June 2022, officials listed all the items to be fixed or replaced at the middle school and said it would cost $100 million.
By June 2023, the district hired ICS Consulting of Media as its program manager to oversee construction and professional services. Officials paid ICS to do an assessment for $75,000 and began the process of replacing the old middle school. In the contract that Roooney obtained through a right-to-know request, there was a clause that gives ICS 7.5 to 10.5 percent of the total cost for a new school, or $19.9 million to $29.9 million. It was paid $15,000 to help the district with the issue if it went to a referendum. Residents have received slick mailings touting the benefits of a new middle school.
Rooney said he was shocked that the school district would put the fees for ICS into the assessment contract.
“Why wouldn’t that be dealt with separately?” he asked.
The consultant did a survey asking students if they wanted a new school and teachers and administrators. Rooney said most of the teachers and none of the administrators are Abington or Rockledge taxpayers. And students were asked if they wanted a new school. He said they were not asked about any consequences, such as whether their parents would be unable to take them on vacation because their taxes have increased to pay for that school.
“Here’s the thing they never did,” said Rooney. “They never said what they would get for $100 million (in repairs to the middle school) or $150 million.”
“The middle school has been completely neglected for 10 years,” he said. It needs new bathroom fixtures, for example, in addition to a roof. The current building is “well-designed and well-built,” but added “it’s been neglected.”
If Abington keeps the old school and renovates it, they don’t have to do “any site work,” he said. “It’s a poured concrete, reinforced steel building with a poured concrete roof.”
Because it is built in modules, renovation work could be done on one module while the others remain in use.
“It has a Little Theater. That’s fine. It’s got three gyms (that need new floors),” he said. There are administrative offices, and “upstairs there’s a beautiful library.” A 30,000-foot addition to the building was built in 1996 and “not even paid off yet.” It increased the size of the school from 270,000 to 301,000 square fee
So, instead of renovating it, “they’re basically going to raze it and throw it (into a landfill),” he said. “That’s what they’re going to do. It’s crazy.”
Rooney lives in Ardsley, and says higher taxes would be a hardship for some of his neighbors.
“I know people who have been laid off,” he said. “They’re struggling financially.”
