BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Bethlehem Area School Board on Monday approved a new 50-year partner agreement to continue sending students to Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School.
Northampton Area and Saucon Valley school boards both approved the same agreement this month, extending the terms of the previous contract until 2075.
The last agreement was approved in 1995 and set to expire in June. BAVTS was created in 1965.
With Bethlehem Area’s Monday vote, the three districts will officially continue working together.Bethlehem Area Vocational Technical School agreement
With Bethlehem Area’s Monday vote, the three districts will officially continue working together.
The decision comes after a yearlong stalemate followed by tense debate among the districts over the terms of the agreement in recent months.
Saucon Valley school directors had called for a new BAVTS funding formula and voting structure they said would be fairer to their small district.
In response, Bethlehem Area and Northampton Area refused the changes and suggested Saucon Valley either capitulate or leave BAVTS.
Ultimately, Saucon Valley school directors decided they had no alternative to BAVTS and agreed to the status quo.
Tense debate
Part of the contention among the districts also involved the price tag of a BAVTS main campus expansion project that has since been nixed in favor of a cheaper satellite campus option.
The $46.6 million expansion project would have added space at the 3300 Chester Ave. main campus in Bethlehem Township to accommodate 330 more student seats.
It also would have allowed new programs, including vet tech studies, cybersecurity, aviation mechanics and medical and office administration.
At the time the project was proposed, Saucon Valley school directors raised concerns about the cost, noting their district didn’t have a need for the expansion based on enrollment numbers as Bethlehem Area and Northampton Area did.
But when a South Bethlehem property hit the market, the technical school cancelled the expansion project, opting instead for a satellite campus at the former site of Factory LLC, a large-scale business incubator for food and beverage companies.
Bethlehem Area bought the building at 315 Columbia St. for $8 million in late 2024 and will hand it off to BAVTS to serve as the satellite campus. Bethlehem Area will be reimbursed for the cost of the purchase.
Satellite campus
Throughout this month, Bethlehem Area, Northampton Area and Saucon Valley all approved memorandums of understanding giving BAVTS the OK to work on designs and other pre-construction activities for renovating the new satellite campus.
The satellite campus project is estimated to cost about $22 million. That includes the cost of buying the building, closing costs, renovations to the new building and additional renovations at the main campus.
With the renovations, which will likely take until fall of 2026 to complete, BAVTS will be able to add the new programs it planned for in the expansion project and open an additional 330 student seats, if not more, officials said.
The BAVTS satellite campus will house the following programs: aviation mechanics, electronics technology, health careers, mental and behavioral health, culinary arts, introduction to sports medicine careers and an additional welding section, according to a BAVTS presentation from the December joint committee meeting.
There’s still room for at least one more program at the new space, as well.
