Pennsbury Leans Toward New High School Over Morrisville Merger

FALLSINGTON, PA —The Pennsbury School District appears to be leaning toward a new high school over a merger with the Morrisville School District.

With the Pennsbury School Board facing the final adoption of its 2023-2024 school budget that includes a 4.1 percent tax increase tagged for a new high school next month, a potential merger with the Morrisville School District looks unlikely at this time, school officials said

"It honestly doesn't look like there's any interest in pursuing this," School Board President TR Kannan said at last Thursday's meeting. "My opinion is we take care of ourselves first."

Three months after the Pennsbury School District held a public hearing with residents regarding options for a possible merger with Morrisville, school officials received word from the state Department of Education of how to proceed.

Schools Superintendent Thomas A. Smith said that the state suggested that the district begin engaging in talks with the Morrisville School District about the merger that also includes two tuition options.

"The onus was put back on us to start meeting with Morrisville," Smith said. "We would have to get into the actual nuts and bolts of it, everything from curriculum to facilities. I've never merged districts."

Smith and Kannan had reached out to Khalid N. Mumin, the acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, in February requesting a meeting regarding the proposed merger or tuition agreement with Morrisville.

"I would love to help my neighbor," School Board Vice President Gary Sanderson said. "The merger is very complex and complicated. I just don't think we can do it at this point. There's too much on our plate."

At its meeting last month, school officials noted a 4.1 percent tax increase in its preliminary 2023-2024 school budget tagged as a "downpayment" for either the renovation of Pennsbury High School West at a $166.4 million cost or the building of a brand new high school, which would cost $213.2 million and not be ready to open until 2029.

Smith and school board members discussed the high school plan at its meeting with the superintendent saying that the property would need to be tested first and then a committee put together with the "best case scenario" still calling for opening a new high school in six years.

"By the board approving the budget, we are approving a new high school," Kannan said.

The school board is expected to grant final approval to the school budget at its June 15 meeting.

"A new high school or Morrisville," Smith said. "I need to focus my efforts. The high school is a bear of a project. We need to dedicate a lot of time and effort. If the board approves the budget in June, the next day we need to have conversations (about the high school)."

School Board member Jim Prokopiak said that the merger would be a "long, drawn-out process" for the next five years with no certainty of funding.

He asked whether the school board would need to put the Morrisville merger on its agenda next month but the school board's solicitor said that the board's "inaction is action" since the board was only obligated for the merger presentation.

"The school board is expected to continue discussing a potential merger with Morrisville and the construction of a new high school. However, the district's priority is improving facilities for Pennsbury High School students, focusing on a new high school," Jennifer Neill, the district's supervisor of public relations, said in a statement to Patch Tuesday.