While critics have questioned the potential economic impact of the French American School”™s planned White Plains campus, a recent study shows that both public and private schools can result in millions of dollars in economic benefits for local communities.
A 2010 report by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) showed that accredited elementary, middle and secondary schools have an annual economic impact of at least $17 billion for the six New England states.
In an economic and fiscal benefits analysis of the French American School of New York project, AKRF Inc., an environmental, planning and engineering consultant, reported that total annual economic activity resulting from the completed campus would be approximately $14.3 million for White Plains and an additional $22 million for the rest of Westchester County.
Graham Trelstad, senior vice president and director of planning at AKRF”™s White Plains office, defended the analysis, pointing to long-held models ”“ such as that used by the NEASC in its report ”“ that show the positive long-term economic effects of schools on their local communities.
“The documentation and the literature on the economic benefits of educational institutions are pretty clear,” he said. Private schools in particular are shown to “generate economic activity (and) provide longstanding stability and benefits.”
An opponent of the French American School”™s proposed campus development, Terence Guerriere, president of the Gedney Association of White Plains, said the issue was not revenue projections but the planned location of the school.
“It”™s never been about whether they should exist,” he said. “It”™s more about where and what the location of this property is, and how it would impact the local community within White Plains.” The Gedney Association represents property owners immediately surrounding the French American School property.
A number of Westchester business owners whose establishments are near private schools said they have had no issues with the schools and that their businesses have benefited as a result.
“The more people that are closer to your business, the better off you are,” said Casey Egan, owner of Emma”™s Ale House in White Plains.
Located just blocks away from Archbishop Stepinac High School, Emma”™s caters to faculty and other area workers. “Lunches, cocktails after work ”“ all of that falls into the equation.”
Egan said he enjoys a mutual relationship with the high school. Its proximity “certainly helps,” he said. “I think that we”™ve tried to help them in whatever ways we can with donations. It works both ways ”“ when there are events up there we certainly do some business.”
At the Rye Bar and Grill, across Interstate 95 from Rye Country Day School, Michael Fabry said all of the local schools help to generate customers for the city”™s eateries.
Fabry is a principal of the Pearl Restaurant Group, which owns the Rye Bar and Grill, Morgan”™s Fish House and Ruby”™s Oyster Bar and Bistro in Rye and four other restaurants in Westchester and Fairfield counties.
Local real estate values stand to gain as well from a nearby school, according to AKRF”™s analysis.
Though only 5 percent of the families with children enrolled in the French American School currently live in White Plains, that number is expected to increase to 30 percent in the years following the project”™s expected completion. That influx would likely drive up home prices in the area, according to AKRF.
Trelstad noted that in the 2010-2011 school year, 93 percent of families with children in the French American School lived in Westchester. Approximately half of those families lived in the three communities ”“ Larchmont, Mamaroneck and Scarsdale ”“ where the French American schools are located.
Those families expected to move to White Plains will boost retail businesses in the area as well as home property values.
“Where they do their shopping is dependent upon where they live,” Trelstad said.
