Central Cambria slated to hold public hearing on Jackson Elementary closure
District to explain rationale behind closure, solicit public comment
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EBENSBURG -- The Central Cambria School Board will hold a public hearing at the end of October to hear the district's rationale for closing Jackson Elementary School to K-2 student attendance and solicit public comment for the board's consideration.
The Section 780 public hearing will take place at 6 p.m. Oct. 22 in the high school auditorium. The commonwealth requires the board to hold a public hearing at least three months prior to voting to permanently close a public school, meaning the board cannot legally close the school until 2027.
In 2024, the district reconfigured its grade alignments for Jackson Elementary, keeping kindergarten through second grade there while moving third through fifth grade to Cambria Elementary, which is on the same campus in Cambria Township as the district's middle and high school buildings.
Superintendent Jason Moore said that move was made to address rising operational costs and decreasing enrollment.
At that time, the board looked at the enrollment projection from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which correctly predicted the student population's decline, Moore said.
"Whenever you have elementary students across two buildings, you have the potential of students missing out on opportunities for interventions and things like that because you only have so many resources, and if you're spreading them too thin, that's obviously not good for operations," Moore said.
The board needs to take a comprehensive look at ways to keep the district's operational costs low, so more funding can remain to benefit students in their classrooms, Moore said.
The district proposes doing that by consolidating kindergarten through second grade into Cambria Elementary, while preserving options for continued use of the Jackson Elementary building, he said, adding the building could continue to be used for preschool offerings by outside providers or to possibly expand programming connected to Admiral Peary Area Vocational Technical School.
Moore said the district understands it's an emotional issue whenever communities, like Jackson Township, are so closely tied to a local school building. That's why the board is doing everything it can to make sure that if it doesn't make sense to keep kindergarten through second grade at Jackson Elementary, the building is still used for education in some capacity.
"The board isn't looking at any potential complete shuttering of the building; it's just a matter of does it make sense to continue to have our (K-2 students) there," Moore said.
According to the public hearing's presentation, there are 79 K-2 students at Jackson Elementary and 606 K-5 students throughout the district this school year. If status quo continues, Jackson Elementary is projected to have 65 students during the 2027-28 school year, and space exists for those students at Cambria Elementary.
It's a move that's projected to save Central Cambria slightly more than $1 million in the 2027-28 school year, according to the presentation, which states the district would see a nearly $11.8 million savings over the next 10 years.
From a financial context, the district operated with a $1.1 million deficit in the 2026-27 budget, even after a tax millage increase. District officials argue a recurring operating deficit cannot be sustained indefinitely by drawing down reserves, noting the district is not facing a simple "overspending" problem.
The budget pressure is driven by recurring operating costs that are increasing faster than the revenue Central Cambria can reasonably expect to receive from local, state and federal sources, the presentation states.
Costs associated with employee healthcare, transportation, special education, cyber charter tuition and utilities and operations are all on the rise, according to the district's data.
The cost savings of merging students with Cambria Elementary is mainly through personnel, and district officials hope that reduction will be through attrition, Moore said.
The presentation, along with other important documents for consideration, is available on the district's website at www.cencam.org/apps/news/article/2233452.
Moore said he encourages any parents or residents with questions about the hearing to contact this district. He can be reached by email at jmoore@cencam.org or by calling the district's administrative office, 814-472-8870.
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.