B'Spa School District reacts to vote

"I'm very happy with the amount of participation in the process. Whether it was a thumbs-up or thumbs-down vote, it shows that the community has a vested interest in the district," Superintendent Joseph Dragone said.

More than 2,500 voters turned out to cast their ballot on Dec. 11 with 843 for the project and 1,664 against the project that would have raised taxes by approximately $120 per year for an average household. State aid promised to cover 79 percent of the project. Gov. David Paterson will be cutting school funding, mostly in operating aid, by 15.97 percent for Ballston Spa Central School District, but facility aid will not be reduced, Dragone said.

"Fiscal concerns are prevalent today and it's a sign of the current economic position many of us are in," Dragone said.

He added that while the proposed project was shot down, a new opportunity was created to regroup and create a new plan which will be much more than cutting down the old plan.

"$56.1 million worth of necessary renovations is a lot of money and a lot of work. We can't just eliminate a few items and turn the proposal back out to voters," Dragone said. "We need to come up with something completely new--that doesn't happen overnight."

District officials and the Board of Education will look at the middle school facility and strategize how to fix one of the biggest problems currently facing the school--overcrowding.

The school was built in the 1950s to house approximately 800 students. Today more than 1,050 students share the building daily.

"The most responsible way to come up with a new plan is to understand and appreciate what the people in the community have said," Dragone said. "They've said that now is not the time to move forward with the renovation project for fiscal reasons, but the problem of overcrowding is upon us now."

While the district's population is projected to remain stable for the coming years, even with the presence of The Foundry Co. in Luther Forest Technology Park, no one has a crystal ball to show if this projection is accurate, Dragone said.

"People can hear that growth will be stable and think that the current facilities are sufficient," he said. "That isn't true and will only get worse."

Not only is the facility insufficient in size, it is outdated in the art, science and technology rooms. Due to lack of space, some teachers have had personal classrooms reduced to a mobile cart to push from room to room. The new proposal included plans for new science and computer labs, updated music, art and technology rooms, a multi-use room and 15 additional classrooms.

"We are in the business to provide our children with the best and safest education they can receive. This project wasn't proposed to better education for the future, it was proposed to better education now," Dragone said. "The plan was designed to support today's academic needs as well as prepare the facility for the next 50 years or more."