Silver Lake Elementary School, nestled in the heart of Silver Lake, is the second-oldest suburban school building still being used in Summit County.
The elementary school, which opened in 1927 and is part of the Cuyahoga Falls City School District, was built in the Jazz Age, when Calvin Coolidge was president.
The only other suburban school in Summit County that is older is the original section of the Cuyahoga Falls High School, also in the Cuyahoga Falls school district.
Like most buildings approaching the 100-year mark, Silver Lake Elementary is showing its age. Its classrooms and office spaces are cramped. Its boilers and plumbing systems are aging. The school's layout includes several levels, which make accessibility for those with mobility issues difficult.
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Cuyahoga Falls and several other suburban school districts throughout Greater Akron are grappling with what to do about their aging facilities.
Of the 74 public school buildings in use in Summit County outside of Akron Public Schools, more than half (41) were constructed between 1950 and 1969.
However, renovating current buildings or constructing new schools isn’t cheap, and finding support from local taxpayers can be a challenge.
The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission offers financial assistance, but suburban districts typically are eligible for much lower matches than the state’s urban and poor districts, leaving local taxpayers on the hook for the majority of the bill.
"If we want to make sure that the kids in our community have what they need, it's now time to start talking about these buildings and the fact that they are aging," Twinsburg Superintendent Kathryn Powers said. "Something needs to happen so that we can support their learning and moving in the future."
How much money can districts get from the state for new schools? It depends
The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission covered 59% of the cost for Akron Public Schools’ new community learning center buildings, with the remaining 41% coming from local money raised by a 0.25% increase in city income tax approved by Akron voters in May 2003.
Thanks in large part to the state program, the bulk of the school buildings in the Akron City School District were constructed or extensively renovated starting in the 2000s, though a few date back to the early 1900s.
But for suburban districts with lower rates of poverty, the reimbursement is about 30% or less.
The Stow-Munroe Falls school district , for example, will get 27% reimbursement from the state if voters approve a $238 million, 35-year bond issue in November to construct new school buildings.
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The Ohio School Facilities Construction Committee paid Tallmadge schools 31%, or $14 million, of its $45 million facilities plan, which included a new elementary and middle school.
If Twinsburg school district voters approve a $107 million, 36-year bond issue this fall to replace three of its school buildings with a new building for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and renovate the high school to house grades seven through 12, the state will kick in nearly $22 million, or 17% of the cost.
Robb Blatchford from Cordogan Clark Lesko , an architecture firm working with Twinsburg City Schools , said the state set up a system that started with lower-wealth districts in the beginning and is working its way up through the wealthier districts.
"So depending on where you are in that list, you get more or less co-funding from the state if you're working with them on the project," Blatchford said.
Nordonia was ranked 570 out of 609 in 2022, the year the district tried to pass a bond issue to replace its school buildings, Superintendent Casey Wright said.
"So, to calculate the local share, it would be 570 divided by 609, multiplied by 100%, which equals 94%," Wright said. "This means the state would provide 6% of the project funds towards your OFCC master plan project."
Districts that are offered state money but fail to secure their local share through a bond issue within 12 months become “lapse districts,” Wright said.
"If a district turns around five, six, 10 years later, tells the OFCC, 'We want to review our approved master plan by OFCC and want to go back to our voters for a possible bond issue,' that district gets back in line," Wright said. "OFCC wouldn’t be able to serve Nordonia for at least three years."
New construction versus renovation?
Districts can work with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission when considering their facility needs, said Anne Yeager, the commission’s chief of communications.
The commission comes up with a master facilities plan, which takes into account current conditions of facilities and estimated enrollment.
"Master facilities plans provide a scope and budget for each of the district’s classroom facilities," Yeager said. "The foundation of the master plan includes a 10-year enrollment projection, a classroom facility condition assessment, Ohio School Design Manual square footage requirements, and cost per square foot by grade grouping."
Blatchford said the OFCC will do an assessment for districts at no cost.
If renovating a building costs more than two-thirds of the cost to build a new school, then the OFCC recommends building a new school, Blatchford said.
Cuyahoga Falls maintains oldest suburban school buildings in the county
Cuyahoga Falls has the three oldest public school buildings in Summit County: part of the high school, Silver Lake Elementary and Lincoln Elementary, which opened in 1928.
New lighting was recently installed at Silver Lake Elementary, but more costly maintenance such as boiler system issues add up, said Joseph Bagatti, the district's director of business and operations.
"We do a good job keeping the building in shape," Bagatti said.
At Silver Lake, for example, stair lifts needed to be installed for a student who had to use a wheelchair. In that school, the cafeteria is in the basement area, the gym is on the first floor, and the music and art classes share a classroom.
If major renovations are made or an addition is constructed, the whole building would need to be brought up to current codes, including ADA accessibility, said Cuyahoga Falls Superintendent Andrea Celico. This would not be practical or cost effective in older buildings.
Many area districts reducing number of school buildings
When it comes to constructing new school buildings in the region, it seems less is more.
Many local districts are reducing the number of school buildings when they revamp their facilities:
- Cuyahoga Falls is constructing one new school for all of its sixth-through-12th graders, effectively replacing the high school and two middle schools.
- Nordonia Hills schools had proposed eliminating six school buildings by constructing three new buildings.
- Stow-Munroe Falls wants to replace its middle school, intermediate school and six elementary buildings with one middle school and four elementary schools.
- Green Local Schools, once their building program is complete, will go from five to four buildings.
- Hudson City Schools converted one of its school buildings into administrative offices.
- Both Tallmadge City and Woodridge Local districts combined their primary and elementary buildings into a single elementary school, reducing their number of structures.
Part of the reason is that the number of students in general in the state has gone down.
Out of Ohio's 609 school districts, only 79, about 13%, gained enrollment from the 2013-14 to the 2022-23 school year, according to a FutureThink report provided to the Stow-Munroe Falls schools.
Summit County schools collectively saw an 8.9% drop in enrollment.
In the past 10 years, student enrollment in the Stow-Munroe Falls City School District has decreased by 260 students in grades pre-K through 12. Total enrollment for the 2023-24 school year for the district is 5,024 students.
However, one area where districts might see growth is in preschool and prekindergarten, Powers said.
"I can tell you our preschool continues to grow," Powers said. "It's a national trend. Where parents used to stay at home and care for their young ones, they're relying on the public school district. Wilcox has now run out of empty classroom space because of the expansion of preschool."
Cuyahoga Falls reducing school buildings with new facility
The Cuyahoga Falls school district is getting one new building for its sixth- through 12th-grade students in the near future. It’s the first new school for the district since DeWitt Elementary was completed in 1969.
The $112.8 million campus will include a 365,000-square-foot building with a performing arts center and new multi-use athletic stadium. It is being constructed where the former Newberry Elementary School used to be, near Bolich Middle School.
Once the new school is open for students, which should be in January 2026, Bolich will be demolished, and the current high school building will be sold, Celico said.
"We don't have a use for a building that size," Celico said.
Christine Stewart, the coordinator of community relations, said the district's administrative offices, which are in an attached wing to the high school, are in the process of being moved to Broadway Street East, in the same building as Falls Village Skilled Nursing.
Voters in November 2019 approved a 9.83-mill tax levy that included a 5.33-mill, 36-year bond issue that will generate about $80.6 million. The district is getting an additional $32.8 million from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission toward the project.
The district will use $55.84 million to help pay for constructing the new building and abating and tearing down Bolich and Newberry. The remaining $24.8 million from the bond issue is being used for the auditorium, theater and stadium.
Celico said the district will start having serious talks about what to do with its six elementary schools once the new school opens.
Are new school buildings worth the price?
Some residents say the cost for new school facilities is worth it in the long run.
Mark Meadows of Cuyahoga Falls, a retired professor who has worked as several universities, said he's in favor of improving the facilities and making them more modern.
"We've become so digital," Meadows said. "You have to develop facilities where we will be teaching in 30, 40 years. As human beings, we are meant to grow, evolve, learn, transform, and it all comes from schooling."
However, he also suggested that some alternatives to new buildings could be investigated.
"Leftover infrastructure, like malls, can be used for education," Meadows said. "They've done this in Texas and Alabama. I've seen this first-hand. They took these old malls and made them into multi-education facilities. One facility had K-12, plus a community school. This was in Little Rock, Arkansas."
Arunie Lopez of Cuyahoga Falls, who has a daughter going into first grade and an infant, said "any money going to the schools, I think, is good." However, she admitted being concerned with increasing costs and would question what the need would be for. She added her daughter attends a private school.
"We got into the housing market before things blew up," Lopez said. "But everything else — groceries, utilities, childcare — that's definitely skyrocketed."
Reporter April Helms can be reached at ahelms@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Summit County's suburban districts struggle to balance needs of aging schools with costs
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