Jim Thorpe Area School District is weighing three building renovation options ranging from $40.6 million to $47.9 million in a decision that could reshape how and where students attend school for a generation.

EI Associates, an architecture and engineering firm, presented an updated feasibility study Wednesday night that narrowed the district’s choices to three options, each carrying a different price tag, a different grade structure and a significantly different long-term financial picture.

Bronson Stone, director of educational facilities planning at EI Associates and a retired school superintendent from northeastern Pennsylvania, and Frank Rapisarda, the firm’s director of operations, led the presentation.

The least expensive option on paper is not the best financial value over time, the consultants said.

Option 2, which would realign grades across the district’s three buildings — placing kindergarten through fourth grade at Penn Kidder Campus, fifth through eighth grade at L.B. Morris School and ninth through 12th grade at the high school — carries a total project cost of $40,684,600, the lowest of the three. But it also generates $2 million in annual operational savings, primarily through reduced staffing as grade levels consolidate and attrition allows the elimination of one teacher per grade level. After accounting for annual debt service of $2.95 million, the net annual cost to the district would be approximately $950,000.

“Big savings would be option two,” Stone said. “Also, if you’re just renovating, we’d be on a much quicker timeline getting all the permits.”

Option 1, the status quo, would keep the current K-8 structure at both Penn Kidder and L.B. Morris while adding two classrooms to each campus and renovating all three buildings. Its total project cost is $43,984,600. Because it produces no operational savings, the full annual debt service of $3.2 million becomes the net annual cost — more than three times the annual net cost of Option 2.

Option 4b, the most expensive at $47,944,400, would convert both elementary campuses to K-6 buildings and transform the high school into a 7-12 junior-senior high school, requiring 12 additional classrooms at the high school. It would generate $682,000 in annual operational savings, leaving an annual net cost of approximately $2.8 million.

All three options address what the consultants classified as Rank 1 and 2 building deficiencies, the most urgent infrastructure needs, across all three campuses. All costs have been adjusted upward by 10% from estimates provided roughly 18 months ago to account for inflation.

Wednesday’s presentation assumed any of the options would be financed through a 27-year bond. The district’s current debt is expected to be retired at the end of 2029-30, which would allow a new bond to be structured with debt service comparable to what the district already pays.

Total district capacity is 2,090 students, while current enrollment is 1,686. The K-8 buildings have capacity for 1,288 students while serving 1,187. The high school has capacity for 802 students while serving 499.

“All buildings are currently meeting the capacity that is defined by PDE and the district,” Stone said. “There’s not a situation where we’re running out of room.”

Enrollment has declined sharply since the district’s peak of 2,197 students in the 2012-13 school year. Two 10-year projection methods point in different directions: Pennsylvania Department of Education modeling projects a decline of 156 students over the next decade, while a separate analysis based on projected kindergarten enrollment suggests an increase of 116. No major housing developments are projected for the area that would significantly affect enrollment.

Stone said the enrollment decline was not unique to Jim Thorpe. His own former district fell from roughly 1,250 students to 880 during his tenure, he added.

“The problem with the PDE formula is that its reliability is greatly reduced the smaller the size of the school district,” he said. “Small fluctuations in housing and economics can lead to a dramatic impact on smaller student populations.”

Only 142 of Pennsylvania’s more than 3,000 school buildings currently operate as K-8 schools, Stone noted — and 101 of those are in Philadelphia.

“The structure that is truly most common in public education buildings in Pennsylvania is having several elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school,” Stone said.

Board members were told Wednesday they could also apply for the Pennsylvania Public School Facility Improvement Grant, a competitive state program that Stone said has $250 million currently available for HVAC, security and other health and safety projects. However, the grant cannot be used for new construction, limiting its applicability depending on which option the board chooses. A separate $25 million Solar for Schools grant program was also mentioned as a potential revenue source.