Over six months after the Northampton Area School District voted to close four academic buildings, board members still are weighing whether to sell an elementary school amid a $12.6 million budget deficit.
Moore Elementary School will close for the 2026-27 academic year, though board members remain divided on whether to sell the building. Six of nine members, in a recommendation vote Monday described as “non-binding,” said they would sell the building.
District Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said he wants a final decision on Moore’s fate by April.
“We need to work on this and get everything together,” Kovalchik said. “Obviously it takes a period of time to do this, so the board has to provide some type of direction.”
In July, board directors unanimously voted to close and sell Franklin Elementary School, Washington Technology Center and the current administration building. However, at the same meeting, the board voted 6-3 to close Moore but retain ownership, with plans to reopen it in the future.
In a report Monday, board Director Joshua Harris said that the Facilities Committee had recommended selling Moore, which he voted against.
Options on the table,, according to minutes from the Jan. 20 facilities committee meeting, range from fully maintaining the building, which would cost about $365,000 annually, or to shutting down systems but maintaining the closed building for about $45,000 annually.
Selling and demolishing Moore Elementary could cost around $2 million, board members have said.
The board’s July decision to close the school resulted in a districtwide elementary school redistricting last fall.
Board members briefly discussed whether to grandfather Moore, meaning the building would be allowed to operate despite not meeting current zoning codes. The board also addressed public criticism of the district’s financial woes; it similarly faced a multi-million dollar deficit at the start of 2025.
“I’m going to get as much data, have as much conversation and acquire as much information as possible before I just sit here and say, ‘Sure, sell it,’” said Jamie Marciano, a board director who voted Monday in favor of the preliminary Moore sale.
The district’s deficit sits at $12,661,117, according to District Business Administrator Craig Neiman. Tax increases up to a 4.2% hike may occur when next year’s budget is approved, Neiman said at a Jan. 12 school board meeting.
Lehigh Township resident Paul Nickischer said during public comment Monday that the district is “in between a rock and a real hard place.”
He said ongoing tax increases, which rose 4% when the district’s most recent budget was approved in a 5-4 vote, is “gonna have to be an ongoing thing.”
“There’s a lot of people that are hurting, older people that don’t have that money,” Nickischer continued.
Kathryn Mack, a Lehigh Township resident, argued that the board is making “a decision on ‘I don’t know.’”
“I think you need to do a little bit more of your homework, and if it’s appropriate, then make a decision based on facts, not on the fact that you’re in a $13 million deficit for next year, and you need some money,” Mack said. “You’re going to need that money year after year after year.”
Andreas Pelekis is a freelance writer.