Monday, August 28, 2006

Back to School

With young people all over the 46th District and Pennsylvania returning to classes this week and next, perhaps it was appropriate that I spent Monday evening at a school board meeting -- a special meeting of the Canon-McMillan School District's Board of Education to be precise.

So far, I've attended board meetings of six of the 10 school districts that educate students from the 46th District. Of the three municipalities that make up Canon-Mac, only Cecil Township lies in the 46th. The C-M schools in the township include Cecil Intermediate School, Cecil Elementary School, Muse Elementary School and Hills-Hendersonville Elementary School.

Monday evening's C-M board meeting focused on a proposed change to the repayment of the school district's bonds with PNC Bank -- admittedly not the most lively topic but an important one for the possible future funding of major school district projects. The school board members asked both big picture and small-detail questions of the PNC representatives.

Long story short -- if the next 25 years or so years bring economic growth, the proposed bond repayment swap could produce significant extra dollars for the school district. Historically, over that length of time, the economy does grow, said the PNC reps. The picture is not so rosy if the yield remains stagnant or declines for most of the next 25 years.

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