So the school board in the affluent, high-achieving 4,120-student district, which is mostly in Chester County but partly in Delaware County, asked residents to approve a high school remake. That included more classrooms to replace modulars in the growing district, plus a larger cafeteria, a second gymnasium, a larger auditorium, synthetic turf fields and more space for the district administration, housed at the high school.
The vote was only the second in Pennsylvania on construction spending since Act 1 went into effect; the other, for a new high school in Montgomery County's Upper Dublin School District, was approved this spring.
The cost to the average Unionville-Chadds Ford taxpayer would have been between $9,500 and $10,100, over 20 to 25 years.
Former school board members Keith Knauss and Jeff Hellrung organized a group called Citizens for Efficient Education to oppose the project.
"We felt the plan that they were proposing was too lavish," Knauss said yesterday. "A lot of things they were proposing were only marginally beneficial to education - the second gym, the large auditorium, the turf fields and more activity rooms than needed."
Knauss said that if the district "comes back with a more modest plan without the unneeded amenities - the frills," Citizens for Efficient Education would urge voters to pass it at a future referendum.
The district plans to resubmit the unchanged proposal to voters next year.
"I'm going to continue along the lines of what I firmly believe is right for children," School Superintendent Sharon Parker said yesterday. "I believe the community will rally around the kids and around education."
There were some other significant votes and some surprises on Election Day.
