Erie district is using cash to build new Edison School, just one reason project is unique

As yet another new academic year begins, Erie School District is preparing to start construction on a new school for the first time since the late 1990s.

The new building will replace the 91-year-old Edison Elementary School on East Lake Road and will reflect the district's current era — a period notable for the district's financial stability and commitment to the community schools model as a way to alleviate poverty throughout the city of Erie.

The district expects construction of the new Edison School to start by the end of the year.

After years of teetering toward insolvency, the Erie School District is enjoying a financial outlook so solid that it is using cash to pay for the construction of the $39.3 million new school.

The district's last new school, East High School, now East Middle School, was dedicated in January 1999. It cost $20 million, which the district raised through a bond issue.

For the new Edison School, the district is funding the construction with its own money from its capital projects account, officials said. It is also using $4.5 million in federal pandemic aid to pay for the new school's heating and ventilation systems.

The district is using the funds to build a state-of-the-art school that will incorporate elements of the community schools model. The district since 2006 has worked with the United Way of Erie County and other partners to institute the model, in which the organizations provide social services for students and families within the school buildings. Edison was one the first community schools in the Erie School District.

A hallmark of the community schools model at the existing Edison School is a trailer located in the parking lot of the rear of the building, at 1921 East Lake Road. The trailer contains food, clothing and other supplies for children in need at Edison, where 90.5% of the 415 students are classified as "economically disadvantaged," according to state data. That figure is about 10 percentage points higher than the figure for the 10,000-student Erie School District as a whole.

The trailer will be gone at the new Edison. All the supplies will have a dedicated space — a pantry located on the southwestern corner of the new building.

"It is very exciting," Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito said of the new Edison. "We are pleased that we are able to design it around the students' needs, and that it will include space for our community school."

School Board decides to build rather than renovate

At the recommendation of Polito, the Erie School Board in May 2022 launched the project by voting to have the district's architects, HHSDR Architects and Engineers, of Sharon, design a new Edison School. Polito said building a new school made more sense than renovating Edison at an estimated cost of $25.4 million.

Edison opened in 1932 and last underwent a major renovation in 1952. It has been in constant need of fixes as it has remained behind the times in terms of amenities. The school, for example, has never had an elevator — but the new school definitely will. Air conditioning will be considered if the bids for that system come in low enough, according to the district.

"This was the worst building construction-wise that we still have," said Neal Brokman, the Erie School District assistant superintendent who oversees building operations. "The student population it is serving, we believe has a higher need as far as student services are concerned. That is why it was one of the original community schools."

The new school will go up just south of the existing school and will face East Seventh Street rather than the busy East Lake Road, which runs just north of the front of the existing building. The existing building will house students during construction and then be demolished.

New Edison part of Erie School District's building boom

The Erie School District is scheduled to put the Edison project out to bid in October and award the bids in November, Brokman said. He said construction is expected to start in December. The opening of the school is targeted for the 2025-26 academic year.

The construction of the new Edison School comes as the Erie School District is carrying out a $182 million project to renovate and repair most of its 16 schools to make them, in Polito's words, "warm, safe and dry" after years of deferred maintenance due to budget woes. The project includes the new Edison and sweeping renovations to Erie High School and Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy.

The district embarked on the massive renovation project with construction in 2019 and financed it partly by issuing $50 million in bonds. The district was able to afford the bonds by using budget surpluses and some of the $14 million in the annual and recurring funding boost that the state General Assembly approved in 2017 to keep the district solvent.

The district's receipt of the $14 million enabled it to complete its financial recovery. The district's rebound led the state to remove it from financial watch status a year ago.

The receipt of the $14 million has also allowed the Erie School District to maintain budget surpluses, some of which it has set aside for capital projects. An infusion of federal pandemic-relief money helped the district pay for more building projects, such as improved ventilation systems. The district's 2023-24 budget is balanced at about $281 million, excluding $17 million in an unassigned fund balance, or money in reserve.

The combination of favorable financial factors has enabled the district to use cash to pay for the new Edison rather than issue more bonds. The district has the available cash, said Polito, a certified public accountant who was the district's chief financial officer for two years before he took over as superintendent in July 2017. By staying away from more bond issues, Polito said, "we avoid paying more interest, which will save the district millions of dollars in the long run."

Planning a new Edison for a long future

The principal at Edison, Diane Sutton, has also been considering the long run during the planning of the new school. She has been encouraging teachers and staff to consider the long-term needs of students as they think of ideas for the new Edison.

The school will be around for "children long into the future," Diane Sutton said. "The building will be in use long after the teachers retire."

As part of the design process for the new school, Sutton, the 40 teachers and other staff members at Edison have shared their thoughts with Brokman and the district's architects. Sutton praised the process, in which teachers have provided input on everything from the layout of classrooms to the style of the chairs that will go in them.

"They have been so accommodating and accepting the ideas," said Sutton, who is in her fourth year of leading Edison.

She and the school's assistant principal, Katy Kloss, said they will be glad to work in a building that is up to date and better meets the needs of the students and their families. They mentioned the community schools pantry that will replace the trailer out back.

"That is a really critical example of who we are as Edison," Sutton said of the community schools model. "With a new school, we will be able to serve the community more."

"Our children deserve something better than what we have right now," Kloss said. "We believe that our students and our teachers and our families deserve the opportunity to have access to technology and a warm building, a safe building, a dry building. And to have the opportunity to see what the future holds for each of them."

The new Edison will feature a wide-open entryway and lots of windows and natural light. Every classroom, according to the plans, will have windows facing either the outside or an open-air courtyard in the center of the building.

The open spaces, Sutton said, are meant to inspire students.

"We feel the children at Edison — like children everywhere — are entitled to a state-of-the art space so they don't have to worry about anything except learning," Sutton said.

Sutton echoed Polito as she described the new Edison. "Excited" was the most prominent word.

"We are so excited together, with our team of teachers and support staff, for what's possible in this new structure here at the lower east side of Erie," Sutton said. "We are grateful to the district for the commitment to children and families here.

"And it's really exciting to be part of the idea of who's coming next, who's coming out of this new structure, who will be the next scientist that discovers or the next doctor that cures: all of these possibilities out of this beautiful structure that we will be living in in just a few years."

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie's new Edison School envisioned as a place of possibilities