BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School is in need of more space, but an expansion project has been delayed because the sending school districts haven’t been able to agree on a cost-sharing plan.
Bethlehem Area and Northampton Area school boards want to continue the terms of the current BAVTS agreement — set to expire June 2025 — while Saucon Valley school directors want a plan with a new BAVTS funding formula.
After a yearlong stalemate, Bethlehem Area and Northampton Area school boards plan to move forward with a new agreement and the expansion project that’s tied to it — whether or not Saucon Valley school directors are on board.
“It’s the wrong time to do things unilaterally and talk about kicking [us] out.”Saucon Valley School Board President Shamim Pakzad
Bethlehem Area school directors on Monday approved articles of agreement for BAVTS that have the same language as the previous 30-year agreement, with an added section on financing the proposed expansion project at a cost not to exceed $52 million.
The articles of agreement were recommended by the joint operating committee in July by a 7-2 vote.
The Saucon Valley representatives were the only committee members to vote against it. There was a 60-day waiting period before any of the districts could vote on this agreement at the board level.
Northampton Area School Board is expected to approve the same BAVTS agreement as Bethlehem Area next month, according to school Director Kristin Soldridge, who also is a member of the BAVTS joint committee.
Time to part ways?
But this agreement can’t take effect and the expansion can’t begin if Saucon Valley doesn’t sign on, too — which the school district has shown no signs of doing.
“As we continue to linger on approving this, the cost for the expansion keeps getting greater and greater and greater," Bethlehem Area school Director Silagh White said.
"And we have to make a determination of whether we’re going to continue with the three school districts or not.”
The BAVTS expansion is projected to cost $46.6 million, according to documents provided by BAVTS Executive Director Adam Lazarchak. This will ultimately cost the districts $74.6 million over 20 years with the interest of borrowing.
Bethlehem Area would be on the hook for about $50.1 million; Northampton Area would cover about $15.9 million; and Saucon Valley would pay about $8.7 million based on the document from Lazarchak.
Saucon Valley School Board President Shamim Pakzad said Tuesday the project is likely to cost Saucon Valley closer to $12 million by the time all is said and done. He believes the project will end up costing the full $52 million proposed spending allowance, if not more with change orders.
The expansion includes two new parking lots and two additions to the school building at 3300 Chester Ave. in Bethlehem Township.
Extra classrooms will allow for new BAVTS programs, such as vet tech studies, cybersecurity, aviation mechanics and medical and office administration.
The project also will allow for new facilities for current programs, such as culinary arts and auto collision repair. The expansion opens up an additional 330 student seats.
The estimated costs for the expansion have increased more than $4 million from initial estimates because of inflation since the districts first began discussing the project, Bethlehem Area School Board President Michael Faccinetto told LehighValleyNews.com last week.
Costs will likely increase by about 3% for every year the project is delayed, Faccinetto said.
BASD school directors said Saucon Valley School Board has dragged on discussions about a funding formula change for about a year, delaying movement on the expansion.
Meanwhile, Saucon Valley's Pakzad said his district has been trying to start negotiations with Bethlehem Area and Northampton Area since last winter.
Trust needed
To avoid growing costs, Bethlehem Area school directors hope to, sooner rather than later, negotiate Saucon Valley School District out of the BAVTS agreement with a buyout so the expansion can move forward, they said Monday.
Northampton Area School District would become BASD's sole partner at the vo-tech school.
That move would allow months for Bethlehem Area and Northampton Area school districts to renegotiate collective bargaining agreements and to address any other matters for the new version of BAVTS before the current articles of agreement expire.
But if conversations with Saucon Valley school directors drag on until June, when the current articles of agreement end, Bethlehem Area and Northampton Area school districts will have to move to form a new technical school without Saucon Valley at that time. SVSD would still be bought out from BAVTS.
Northampton Area School Board hired legal counsel last week to manage any further negotiations with Saucon Valley, and Bethlehem Area School Board also hired conflict counsel Monday to manage an exit for Saucon Valley if needed.
“It’s the wrong time to do things unilaterally and talk about kicking [us] out,” Pakzad said Monday ahead of the BASD school board meeting, adding trust is needed in any partnership.
Saucon Valley calls for negotiation
Pakzad said his board still wants to find a way to remain in BAVTS, and it doesn't plan to sign onto the extension or leave for another technical school option, he said.
Saucon Valley school directors proposed their own agreement and approved it in August. The new agreement, which neither Bethlehem Area nor Northampton Area approved, includes a new funding formula and a change to the joint committee voting process.
Saucon Valley school directors claim they’ve been overpaying based on the current funding formula that takes into account both student enrollment numbers and market values of the homes in sending districts.
They want to move to a formula based only on student enrollment.
Faccinetto said such a formula would cause too much fluctuation and volatility.
Under Saucon Valley’s proposal, Pakzad said Saucon Valley would save about $4 million over the next 20 years on the expansion project. SVSD school directors said in July their district would save about $2 million. Documents from May showed Saucon Valley savings at $1.2 million.
Saucon Valley school directors said in July that savings are important for a small district like theirs, where the school board approved a $54 million 2024-25 budget in May. The savings could allow them to make upgrades like installing a turf field in their stadium, or buying lighting for athletic fields.
Faccinetto said any potential savings have already been eaten up by the inflation of the project costs as the districts fail to move forward.
Still, Saucon Valley school directors have argued their students account for the smallest share of the student body — 9% of all 1,408 BAVTS students — and their district doesn’t have a growing waitlist to justify the expansion, meaning their share of the student body is likely to grow smaller under the expansion.
Though they are willing to support the project, they believe facilities funding needs to be more fair by relying on student enrollment and not market value.
Saucon Valley school directors also want to change the BAVTS voting process so the majority of school directors in each district must approve decisions, making it so no district can be forced into committing future funds by the other two districts, Pakzad said.
Can there be compromise?
Pakzad said he still believes there’s the possibility for a middle ground between Saucon Valley’s proposal and the extension of the current agreement favored by Bethlehem Area and Northampton Area school districts.
Saucon Valley School Board recently formed a three-person negotiating team and asked Bethlehem Area and Northampton Area school directors to do the same so that BAVTS funding discussions can continue in private negotiation sessions.
"We said no 15 different ways and a dozen different times," he said. "I don’t see any benefit from that.”Bethlehem Area School Board President Michael Faccinetto
“I think any reasonable person would agree that before entering a 30-year agreement, you need to sit down and talk with the other parties and discuss the agreement,” Pakzad said.
But Faccinetto said BASD has no intention of forming a negotiating team.
"We said no 15 different ways and a dozen different times," he said. "I don’t see any benefit from that.”
Northampton schools' Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said Monday his district sees no need for such a subcommittee, either.
Both district leaders believe discussions have gone on long enough, and the three districts have had at least a year in public meetings to come to an agreement.
