“Nothing is set in stone,” according to Superintendent Dr. Ron Sofo, concerning the potential merger with Economy Borough. Ambridge’s recent tax evaluation predicted a major tax increase for the upcoming school year. “The residents of Economy Borough were upset, believed that increase was excessive, and [were] wondering if Freedom would be interested in Economy Borough coming and being part of the Freedom Area School District,” Sofo said. The Freedom school board responded with open-mindedness and is currently waiting for more events to unfold with this issue. Because of the process for merging, the Freedom board will not take part in the process until the second or third step, Sofo said. In this instance, Economy Borough needs to circulate a petition, which needs to be signed by at least 50 percent of the tax-paying residents. This signed petition must then be deemed legitimate by courts in order to proceed to the next step of the merging process. The Pennsylvania Department of Education will receive this request from Economy Borough, where it will be voted upon and accepted or denied. If the suggested course of action is approved, the Pennsylvania Department of Education will set out to collect data concerning the potential of merging. This data collection, in the form of questionnaires, will be given to both Economy Borough and the Freedom district in order to gauge residents’ thoughts. “That’s when we directly get involved in responding to the [merger] request,” Sofo said. There are several pros and cons to this potential merger for both Freedom and Ambridge. If Economy were to leave Ambridge, a portion of the district’s debt would follow Economy and be distributed within Freedom. Because Ambridge’s debt currently sits at approximately $80 to $90 million, Freedom, merged with Economy, would add about $40 million of debt on top of the district’s current $5 million debt. “[The acquisition of debt is] where things get really rocky,” Sofo said. “If [Economy brings] that debt and that has to be spread across the entire district,” he said, noting that a resulting property tax increase for Freedom residents would be a “very hard sell.” Another potential downfall with the merger has to deal with capacity. By practically doubling in size, Freedom would not only be concerned with busing routes, class sizes and food service capacity, but also the negative effects for Ambridge. “Ambridge would possibly not be able to function if half of their student body would leave,” Sofo said. Economy Borough is 60 percent of Ambridge’s tax revenues and 50 percent of its students, according to Sofo. However, there are several changes that could be positive for Freedom. “[Merging with Economy] may be a long-term financial gain to Freedom,” Sofo said. With problems of declining enrollment and decreased government funding, Freedom is in a difficult monetary situation. In addition to this, more students would move the district from double A to triple A, according to Sofo. More electives would also be created as the student body increases. According to Sofo, the decision to merge is still undetermined. The process would take at least 16 to 24 months, if it happens at all.