Pottsville Area School District officials say Saint Clair school leaders are not being truthful about negotiations on where Saint Clair’s high school students will go after eighth grade.
Last month, Pottsville’s school board pushed back against statements made as Saint Clair explores new options.
“Statements were made by the Saint Clair administrators and board members that were not factual,” Pottsville Area board member Stephanie Buchanan said at a meeting last month.
Since 1989, Saint Clair students after eighth grade have largely attended Pottsville Area High School, with some choosing Nativity BVM or charter schools. But in June, Saint Clair’s board issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a new high school partner, citing frustration with Pottsville over tuition agreements.
Saint Clair leaders said Pottsville was unwilling to offer a per-student tuition rate and only pushed long-term, flat-rate contracts.
Buchanan says that’s not true.
According to Buchanan, Pottsville offered three options in 2024 negotiations: continue the current arrangement with tuition set at $1.9 million for 2027-28 (up from $1.8 million in 2025-26); a per-student tuition rate calculated under the state Department of Education formula, discounted 20–25%; or one additional year at $1.8 million in 2026-27, followed by a strategic plan to merge the districts by 2029-30.
“Saint Clair representatives have told the media they want a long-term contract and specifically a per-student rate,” Buchanan said. “We provided exactly that in our 2024 negotiations.”
She added that Pottsville made clear it did not want more one-year deals and hoped to maintain a relationship with Saint Clair.
Saint Clair officials said earlier this year they were not interested in a merger.
The RFP deadline closed on Tuesday, and Pottsville officials said they intended to submit a response.
“Tuition Gap”
Buchanan also said that Saint Clair is paying below Pottsville’s actual tuition cost.
She put Pottsville’s per-student rate at about $10,000 and Saint Clair’s payment at about $7,000 — creating what she described as a $1.2 million “tuition gap” in the 2024-25 school year that Pottsville absorbed.
That gap has existed since the beginning of the Saint Clair-Pottsville relationship, Buchanan said.
Financial History of Saint Clair Students at Pottsville Area High School … According to Pottsville
Buchanan explained the history of the agreement between Pottsville Area and Saint Clair over the years and said Saint Clair was given a discount on the tuition rate that was computed by the Pennsylvania Public School Code.
That formula includes the salaries and pensions of supervisors, principals, and teachers employed at Pottsville Area High School plus the cost of textbooks and supplies added to a per-student tuition rate.
Under the initial terms, Buchanan said, Saint Clair agreed to pay the costs of its students attending a vo-tech school and those in special education.
That initial deal which started with the 1989-90 school term was for five years, and a minimum of three years. In 1991, a secondary, five-year, joint secondary program management “extension” agreement was signed between the districts, Buchanan said.
“I imagine there was a great working relationship between the districts at this time because the contract stated that Pottsville would calculate the budget and each school district shall pay a portion of the budget equal to the percentage its students represent of the entire joint program,” Buchanan said.
That contract was extended several times through 2014, which Saint Clair told Pottsville that it wanted to terminate the Joint Secondary Program Management Agreement starting with the 2015-16 school term.
Buchanan said that in March 2015, Pottsville school board members voted against a merger with Saint Clair Area.
“At the time, Pottsville administrators and school board members were quoted as being concerned by Saint Clair’s outstanding debt,” Buchanan said.
After that vote against a merger, Pottsville says Saint Clair sought another RFP from other districts where they could send its graduating eighth graders.
A one-year deal between the districts was signed in April 2015. Pottsville charged Saint Clair a little more than $1.7 million and had the borough school pick up the tab for special education students whose costs were more than $25,000.
Pottsville said it did respond to that 2015 Saint Clair RFP with a proposal on a 10-year deal between the schools at a cost of $27.4 million. It said it revised that offer to $16 million and Saint Clair agreed. That 10-year deal runs out at the end of this 2025-26 term.
Buchanan said during her presentation that the $1.6 million Saint Clair paid in the 2024-25 term is actually less than the $1.7 million it paid during that one-year deal back in 2015.
“I’m not aware of many examples where a service costs the same or less than it did 10 years ago, especially in education,” Buchanan said.
A one-year extension was agreed to between the districts but Saint Clair will have to pay $1.8 million for the 2026-27 term. Buchanan noted that the flat rate being charged to Saint Clair does not include the cost of special education.
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Pottsville Responds to Saint Clair School Seeking Proposals from Other High Schools in Schuylkill
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