TimesLeader.com

Lakeland OKs CTC proposal

Mary Krewson Abington Journal Correspondent

At its monthly meeting Oct. 21, the Lakeland School District board of directors unanimously voted to pass a resolution supporting a $20 million bond that will be used to renovate the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County.

The resolutionis conditional upon the other eight school districts that have students attending also supporting the project. The other districts part of the center’s consortium are Carbondale Area, Dunmore, Forest City Regional, Mid Valley, North Pocono, Riverside, Valley View and Scranton.

The renovation is a “major overhaul of the entire facility,” said Lakeland School District Superintendent Margaret Billings-Jones, Ed.D. Monday, Nov. 2. “It’s extensive,” she added.

Dr. Billings-Jones said Lakeland’s share of the renovation cost would be $93,300 annually for 20 years, or equal to 1.1 mills. This amount is proportionally equal to Scranton’s annual cost of $326,500 or 1 mill of taxes.

Lakeland School District’s share is $93,300 annually over the next 20 years. The project will be in a construction phase over the next two summers, Billings-Jones said, and will offer better utilization of space for students once completed in 2012. Much of the equipment now used by students is outdated, she said, so the project also includes state of the art equipment.

On Nov. 2, the Scranton School Board voted Nov. 2 to reject the district’s share of support. Of the nine school districts in the consortium, Scranton is the only to reject. North Pocono voted to approve based on Scranton approval.

Almost half of the students attending the tech center, currently 700, are Scranton students. Lakeland School District students at the center this year total 43 said Billings-Jones. She added that is a low number since the number of students attending the center can range each year from 40 to 70. She said this year $280,732 was budgeted to pay for Lakeland students’ tuition. Billings-Jones said school districts pay their tuitions based on participation or “average daily membership.”

Teachers at the Career Technology Center had been on strike last week but a tentative agreement was reached to increase teachers’ salaries. A vote was set for Tuesday, Nov. 3

Billings-Jones said that salary increase may increase tuition rates in the future.