Quakertown Community SD schedules Act 34 hearing April 23; board to vote on advertisement March 26

District staff presented the materials the Quakertown Community School District must use to comply with the statutory Act 34 public-hearing process and asked the board to approve an advertisement and resolution at its March 26 meeting.

The presenter (speaker S5) said the Act 34 hearing "is to provide transparency to the public so that folks get the opportunity to see both the cost and the scope of the project," and described the required elements of the hearing booklet, how PlanCon worksheets drive the advertised figures, and why the advertised totals differ from internal bid estimations.

The presenter walked the committee through the calendar required by the statute: staff recommended placing the advertisement in the paper by April 3, holding the public hearing on April 23 (preceding the board meeting) and keeping the hearing record open for 30 days; because the nominal 30th day fell on a weekend and Memorial Day, the advertisement will show May 25 as the closing date for written public comment. The presenter said staff are coordinating with PFM for the financing portion of the hearing.

Staff detailed how numbers were derived from internal worksheets: they cited an original project figure presented by staff ("$63,038,000") and explained removing a sixth-grade center amount (reported in the materials as "$2,000,003.79") to arrive at the advertised total. The presenter also described PlanCon recomputation steps that produced the Act 34 advertised building-construction and total-project figures and noted departmental testing against reimbursement thresholds (including the Department of Education per-pupil reimbursable amount cited in the presentation).

The presenter emphasized the district's objective for bid day: "We want to be below both of these numbers" — the Act 34 advertised amounts and the aggregate building-expenditure standard — so a referendum would not be required. Staff told committee members the formal advertisement and the Act 34 booklet will be available electronically and in print for public review before the hearing.

What happens next: staff asked the board to adopt the advertisement and a corresponding resolution at the March 26 board meeting so the district can publish the notice and make the hearing packet available in advance. If the board approves on March 26 as requested, the district plans to advertise on or before April 3 and hold the hearing on April 23.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the advertisement during the committee meeting; the action staff requested is a board-level approval on March 26.