Centre County township wants to turn a former school into a ‘community benefit’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Miles Township wants to acquire a former school and use it as a community center.
- Township officials believe the potential acquisition would not raise taxes.
- Penns Valley’s school board could approve a sale as soon as its Jan. 20 meeting.
As the Penns Valley Area School District ponders the future of a former elementary school, a Centre County municipality hopes to transform it into a community resource.
Miles Township, the namesake for the district’s former Miles Township Elementary School, has submitted a proposal to convert the building into a mixed-use community center that could help revitalize the rural community. At a community forum Thursday to discuss the proposal, township supervisor Eric Miller said the municipality would try to model the concept after another former school-turned-community center in Spring Mills.
“Our vision is a lot similar to what Gregg Township is doing with the Old Gregg School,” supervisor Eric Miller told community members at the Miles Township Fire Company. “Being able to have a community center, being able to rent out some office spaces [and] trying to improve our community a little bit by bringing some small businesses, even, into this.”
Miles Township officials made clear their interest in the 6.58-acre Rebersburg property even before Penns Valley’s school board voted to close the elementary school last August. The municipality was one of five groups or individuals to submit last fall a proposal to potentially acquire the school building, its surrounding land or both.
The school board is expected to discuss and potentially take action on the proposals during its Jan. 20 meeting.
A look at the township’s proposal
In the township’s proposal, available publicly on the district’s website, Miller wrote Miles Township would use the former school building to house municipal offices, retail spaces for local businesses and office spaces available for rent. The building could also be used to host community meetings and events, offer a renovated gymnasium for public recreation and house a childcare center or senior center — both of which would address critical needs in Penns Valley, Miller wrote.
“The acquisition of the Miles Township Elementary School and surrounding property aligns with the school district’s desire to continue its use as a community benefit,” Miller wrote in the proposal. “As the governing body of a small rural town, we have identified the need for a foundation that increases the opportunity for community interests and promotes education, sports and wellness, outreach and greater accessibility for local government.”
The 17,810-square-foot Miles Township Elementary remains in “good overall condition” at 80 Town Lane in Rebersburg, district officials said in the fall. The building, which dates back to 1927 but received signification renovations and additions in 1961, features nine standard classrooms, several office spaces and restrooms as well as a large kitchen area, a gymnasium and a roof repaired in 2022.
Ample space at the former elementary school would give Miles Township a convenient —and important — opportunity to establish a formal office for the municipality and provide much-needed community resources, township supervisor Jason Bartlebaugh said.
“If the township as a municipality needs to expand — buildings, land, offices — where do you propose we do that in this municipality?” Bartlebaugh asked a community member. “The only public space left in Miles Township is the Miles Township Elementary School building and land. It’s the only place left in Miles Township, without eminent domain, to expand the township facilities.”
Bartlebaugh expressed interest in adding to Miles Township’s portfolio by providing room for new community fixtures, whether that be a new public park, a larger facility for equipment or even somewhere to house road salt. Acquiring the former school building and its land would be key, he said, because there are no other public lands on which to build.
“The township, honestly, could use, as a municipality, a little bit bigger facility to operate,” Bartlebaugh said. “As State College creeps this way over the next 25 years, we’re going to need those resources, and we’re going to need that stuff for our community to be able to continue to expand.”
Can the township afford the property?
Under Pennsylvania’s school code, districts can use public auctions, sealed bids and private sales to dispose of school property. Another option allows them to sell property to the presiding municipality for an appropriate consideration — usually a symbolic dollar — as long as the buildings and land are then used for public purposes, district solicitor Scott Etter previously told Penns Valley’s school board.
Ownership can revert to the school district if the property is no longer desired or used for a public purpose. But while it is used by the municipality, the former school property does not generate taxes.
Miles Township Elementary’s operations, including utilities, repairs and general maintenance, cost between roughly $70,000 and $80,000 each year, though that figure has likely dropped a bit since the school closed. Still, at their community forum, Miles Township officials were adamant the municipality could comfortably afford to acquire the former school building and its surrounding land without raising taxes.
“Many other municipalities have a fee in lieu of subdivision for parkland,” Bartlebaugh said. “We’ve been averaging enough subdivisions, if we enact the fee in lieu in Miles Township over the past seven years, to fund the school entirely without outside funding, just on the subdivisions over the past seven years.”
If Miles Township raised no funds and used solely taxpayer dollars to fund the acquisition, it would cost the same as roughly a two-mill tax increase per year, Bartlebaugh said. Such a scenario would cost each taxpayer about $30 annually.
Some community members, including Bartlebaugh, expressed the need for greater community resources in Miles Township, whose lack of facilities and family-friendly infrastructure requires some residents to travel to across Centre County for sporting events, music lessons and other activities.
Even if taxes increase down the line, the proposed community center’s benefits could make the financial strain worthwhile or even vital, one resident argued.
“We have to leave Miles Township for every activity that exists,” one resident said at Thursday’s forum. “For what reason would a young family want to live in or move to Miles Township if we don’t take advantage of using this as a community space? If we cater to the previous generations of not wanting to raise taxes, Miles Township will die with that generation.”
All but three of the roughly 40 community members in attendance Thursday signaled their support for the proposed acquisition after Miles Township’s supervisors asked for a show of hands.
What happens next?
Miles Township’s proposal is one of several submitted to the district in recent months. Other proposals, which are outlined on the district’s website, include a small-scale offer to use the building’s land for a new baseball field and larger proposals that would purchase the building and its land for more than $300,000 and use them for a new grocery store, a new restaurant or a public park.
Though an agenda was not available Friday afternoon, Penns Valley’s school board is expected to consider a motion at its Jan. 20 meeting to approve a proposal for the future use of Miles Township Elementary and its surrounding land. The meeting is at 6 p.m. at Penns Valley Elementary and Intermediate School.
Bartlebaugh implored Miles Township residents to attend the meeting and voice their support for turning the former school property into a community resource.
“If it’s sold, it’s sold,” he said. “It’ll never again be public space. It’ll never again be a place for your children to play. It’ll never again be anywhere for sports teams. It’ll never again be anywhere for anybody in this community to freely use as community space for future generations: your kids, their kids, your great-grandkids.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2026 at 6:11 AM.
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