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AMBITIOUS SCHOOL DISTRICT PROJECT WON'T INCREASE CITY'S TAX BURDEN

By Mike Hudson

Suppose you could renovate each of the 13 school buildings in the Niagara Falls School District, improving security and bringing them in line with environmental regulations, the federal Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and city building codes.


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Suppose further that you could build an entirely new elementary school to replace the 80-year-old Niagara Street School, a longtime black hole for school district money. Over the past two decades, more than $8 million has been poured into the facility for repairs just to allow it to remain open.

Now suppose you could do all of this without raising taxes. That's right, benefit every single student in the district, enhance the quality of life in a city that desperately needs it and provide an additional incentive for young families to stay in Niagara Falls, all at no cost whatsoever to the taxpayer.

Voters here will get a chance to answer this question in a special election, to be held on Tuesday, Dec. 14. In a simple "yes" or "no" referendum, the school district is seeking permission to issue $50 million in bonds in order to undertake the largest district-wide capital improvement project in recent memory.

"The beautiful thing is that the money is available to do this," Schools Superintendent Carmen Granto told the Reporter. "It can be done with no increase to the tax levy."

The bulk of the money for the projects would come from the state, Granto said. And while any revenue generated from the district getting a cut from the local share of the casino cash and funding expected to come from the upcoming Power Authority settlement would be a bonus, Granto said the projects could be undertaken without it.

"We've looked at the money we may get from the Power Authority and the casino, and there's no question it would make it easier," he said. "But we've done the math, and we can do this in any event."

The Niagara Street School was built in 1919, shortly after the end of World War I. It was added onto in 1929 and remains today largely as it was then. The electric and heating systems are out of date and in need of constant repair. During the winter, especially, they cause periodic closings of the school.

Much of the building isn't accessible to the handicapped and, just this past summer, $112,000 was spent to repair a water damaged exterior wall.

A recent study showed that $14 million would have to be spent in order to bring the school into compliance with local building codes, ADA requirements and environmental regulations.

"We're plugging holes at that building," Granto said. "At this point, you'd have to say we're throwing good money after bad. We could spend $14 million to repair it, and we'd still be left with an 80-year-old school. It doesn't make economic sense."

The district considered closing the school and busing its 600 kindergarten-through-grade 5 students to other elementary schools in the district. That idea was scrapped when it was discovered that virtually the entire student body lived within walking distance of the Niagara Street site.

"More than any other school in the district, those kids live in the immediate neighborhood," Granto said.

But, while the replacement of the Niagara Street School is the centerpiece of the plan, schools in every part of the city will benefit. Security has become a big issue, and one of the first priorities will be to provide every school with a security system comparable to the one now in place at Niagara Falls High School to protect students.

"All of the schools, particularly the older ones, ought to have digital cameras and a DVR recorder, as well as motion detectors. A number of the buildings lack a security system on the doors, and in some cases, the alarm systems are in terrible shape," Granto said.

Administrators at each school were asked to provide a "wish list," which was then gone over by district officials. Budgeted improvements include:

In addition to benefiting the district's students for a generation to come, the ambitious, 10-year project will pour millions into the local economy and provide steady work for those in the building and associated trades here.

All at no additional cost to the beleaguered taxpayers of Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com Nov. 30 2004