The State College area school district board met on Monday night, voting on the State High Project 90 percent floor plan.
The updated floor plan establishes the final building configuration and allows the developers to complete mechanical, electrical, and plumbing drawings.
The plan was passed unanimously by the board after brief discussion. The updated floor layout includes changed based on comments received during a recent 90 percent review, which allowed input from administrative and instructional staff in addition to the board.
There were some minor alterations made, including a revision to the early childhood care program area design and the removal of a bathroom.
The board now awaits an updated estimate from the contractors at the August 24 meeting, although Director of Physical Plant Ed Poprik warned the board that it might take until the end of September.
The board also heard from superintendent Bob O’Donnell on a development plan for the district. The administration has been working to hire a person to pursue fundraising opportunities and create an educational foundation for facilitating gifts, donations, and grants.
O’Donnell says the board has landed on Paul Olivett, a local development professional, to work in a part-time contractor role with the district for this plan.
“I am not a development expert and I don’t want to sit here and pretend that I am,” O’Donnell says.
Olivett is a Penn State graduate and has worked extensively in the development field.
“I think we’re fortunate timing-wise to get somebody like him,” board member Jim Leous says. “He’s got a track record for working with startups and this is definitely a startup effort here.”
The district is hoping to find additional revenue sources to alleviate limitations caused by the current annual budget. Based on desires from the community, the administration has a number of priorities it will focus on if this revenue can be attained
Those priorities include providing teachers the ability to pilot innovative curricular programming, supporting ongoing costs for programs, providing underprivileged students with access to extracurricular programs, and more.
O’Donnell says the administration is eyeing Educational Improvement Tax Credits as an additional opportunity to expand revenue sources. The EITC program allows businesses to receive a tax credit for donations made to their non-profit foundations in the amount of 75 to 90 percent.
“That’s something we’ve been keeping an eye on, which we haven’t tried to pursue yet,” he says. “I have a lot of experience with it through the foundation I worked with in the past. That really could be a pretty good opportunity for us.”
