Lehighton Area School District will be reimbursing its general fund just over $703,000 in soft costs for a new elementary center.

According to a 5-3 decision Monday night by Lehighton's school board, the money will come from a $35 million bank bond approved in September.Mixed feelingsSuperintendent Jonathan Cleaver said cash to pay back the general fund for elementary center expenses was always intended to come from the bond."You have to start the state's PlanCon process ahead of time, and there are costs you incur before borrowing money for the project like the plans that the architect draws up," Cleaver said. "Then when you borrow the money, you can reimburse the fund from which you paid those soft costs."Board member William Hill, however, said he feels the district will need "every bit of the $35 million to pay for the elementary center if it gets off the ground."Hill voted against the reimbursement along with Rocky Ahner and Lori Nothstein.Gloria Bowman, Wayne Wentz, Andrew Yenser, Larry Stern and Stephen Holland supported the measure."I think the $703,000 should come out of the unrestricted fund balance," Hill said. "We raised taxes in years that we shouldn't have to build our fund balance and now that the money is there we're going to pull from a bond? If you have to go to a bond to recoup a general fund, you're spending beyond your means."Bowman, board president, said the district did a similar reimbursement for middle and high school renovations.Also skeptical of the decision, Ahner said the district shouldn't be willing to part with even a small portion of the $35 million so soon."What if something goes wrong with this school and we run into trouble," he said. "If we run out of money, are we going to tax the taxpayers?"Savings will pay off debtLehighton's administration has projected a $1.2 million operational savings by combining four elementary schools into one central facility.On Monday, the board passed a resolution that guarantees any savings above that number will be earmarked to paying off a $63 million debt service.While Ahner said he didn't understand why the board would agree to this, it seemed like a no-brainer to Cleaver."Why would we not want to earmark this money to pay off the debt?" he asked. "Then nobody can ask what you're doing with any additional consolidation savings."Still controversialThe proposed elementary center remains a divisive topic in the community.Taxpayer David Bradley said Monday "the $28 million in interest on the bond is more than it would have cost to repair all four elementary schools twice."While Robert Dages said a new school would almost certainly be aesthetically pleasing, he questioned if the educational quality could match it."The education would definitely be different but better, that's a gamble," he told the board. "You're breaking the middle class. There is a lot of despair around here and you're contributing to it. I think you can do better with people's money. I don't think you are listening."A supporter of a centralized elementary center from the beginning, outgoing board member Larry Stern touted what he feels would be an educational advantage for students."We'll be able to better serve our high achievers and our challenged students," Stern said. "A lot of people don't realize that our challenged students are bused to each of our different buildings depending on what day it is. They can't afford to lose that time."Class sizes, he added, would become equal."I don't think it's fair when an East Penn class has 10 kids and a Franklin class has 25 kids," he said. "This is not a plan we came up with in five minutes. It has taken years to get to this point."