ASD to consider financing options for proposed gym at former state hospital | Allentown area

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Allentown School District Board of Trustees advanced the district’s efforts to construct a new academic building Thursday night during committee meetings in the administration building.

The board authorized the administration to hire PFM financial advisors to handle financial matters, Fox Rothschild as bond advisor, and its local attorney in conjunction with the issuance of general obligation bonds. Those bonds would be tied to the acquisition of real estate and the construction of a proposed kindergarten through eighth-grade building on the site of the former Allentown State Hospital.

Last month, ASD and City Center Investment Corp. announced plans for a two-story, 200,000-square-foot fitness center as part of the proposed project in Northridge. The building is slated for a 16.7-acre site in the Northridge project that would be acquired by ASD from City Center.

The school would be located at Hanover Avenue and the future corner of Northridge Drive. Northridge Drive is slated to be the main access road to the complex.

Thursday night’s action is part of ASD’s plan to consider various financing options to pay for it. This involves evaluating various financing methods and formally allowing documents to be prepared for official action at a later date this year.

Construction on the building will likely begin in the fall of 2025, according to district officials Thursday night.

The project is estimated to cost US$115 million.

Property Tax Increase Rate

Principals introduced a motion involving the district’s 2025-26 budget.

The motion will not allow exceeding the Law 1 Index when formulating the district’s spending plan. Index Act 1 was passed by a special session of the Pennsylvania Legislature in 2006 and requires all school districts to receive voter approval or exemptions from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to implement tax increases greater than Index Act 1 establishes.

Based on the Act 1 Index formula, ASD does not meet the basic criteria for obtaining PDE exceptions beyond the approved index. Given this, and not wishing to seek voter approval beyond the Act 1 Index, ASD would agree not to “opt out” and not to increase taxes beyond the established rate, which is 6.1%.

The board is scheduled to vote on the measure at the Oct. 24 board meeting.

School Mental Health Services

The district legislature presented a memorandum of understanding between the Mindful Child Initiative, the Valley Youth Initiative and the district to employ a full-time Valley Youth House school therapist at each high school.

Therapists will provide mental health services with a focus on preventing violence. To that end, Valley Youth House secured a $954,000 grant for a three-year project funded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s Violence Intervention and Prevention program. The concession period runs until June 2027.

Director Phoebe Harris pulled no punches in her assessment of Valley Youth House.

“I don’t like Valley Youth House,” Harris said. “…They continue to take money from us at the expense of our children and not perform as well as they should.”

She added that the organization provides the district with marginal information.

“I’m still trying to figure out what they’re giving our students because I don’t see any results,” she added.

Harris supports district officials’ efforts to “police” the nonprofit.

“They keep getting grants because they keep writing these things, and we don’t even know the data,” Harris said.