STATE COLLEGE — The State College Area school board has approved a $279,500 contract with an architectural firm to update the district’s master plan.

Mechanicsburg-based Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates was selected by the board last month after a lengthy interviewing process and from a final pool of three firms. The contract was approved at Monday’s board meeting.

The contract approval is an early milestone in the ongoing facilities update effort, which is expected to include a State College Area High School construction and renovation project.

The firm will update the district’s master plan, which involves all district buildings and facilities. The firm will also do the design work for the anticipated high school project.

The board hasn’t decided exactly what the high school project will include, and district officials have said they will reach out to residents for input before decisions are made.

Ultimately, voters will make the decision on the high school project. Under state law, the district would need to take the project to a referendum because the district would need a tax increase to pay for it.

The architects’ contract includes a $25,000 cost for the firm to do the paperwork to get reimbursement from the state for a small percentage of the building costs. But as it stands now, the state has put a hold on that reimbursement, and the district would get a credit of $25,000 if the firm does not do that paperwork.

Administrators are working on recommending an educational planner, or a firm that evaluates how the building design syncs up with the educational programs offered.

The design firm’s contract is online at www.scasd.org/cms/lib5/PA010 00006/Centricity/Domain/ 81/V-AArchContractFinal9- 10-12.pdf.

Mike Dawson can be reached at 231-4616. Follow him on Twitter@MikeDawsonCDT.