NEW BERLIN — A local technical school is looking to upgrade — for the first time in over 40 years. SUN Area Technical Institute is planning to do some renovations to its facilities, and Administrative Director Jennifer Hain says it has been a long time coming.
“We want to expand the current programs, lab areas, rooms and spaces that we have,” Hain said. “We’ve added programs many years ago that when the building was opened in 1971, I believe it probably wasn’t anticipated. We are really just growing to meet the needs of what has occurred in the industry over the last 40-some years.”
SUN Tech will need some extra help from the five school districts they serve. Hain said, “At this point with numbers being lower for current interest rates and looking to go up in the near future, the administration thought it would be a good time to maybe look into borrowing the money to get the project done a little bit quicker… Our money really comes from the five districts. We can’t have our own fund balance at this school, so we really count on them.”
The current budget for the 2015-16 school year is $6.3-million. Upgrades could range from an additional $5.3-million to over $16-million. Hain says the five districts will need to agree on how much they can contribute in order for the project to move forward. SUN Tech currently trains around 250 students in the Lewisburg, Midd-West, Mifflinburg, Selinsgrove and Shikellamy school districts, as well as 200 adult learners annually. (Codi Jade)