Westchester”™s only public charter school will expand in Yonkers with financing assistance from the Yonkers Economic Development Corp.
The nonprofit agency”™s board recently agreed to issue tax-free education revenue bonds to finance an estimated $7.5-million expansion by the Charter School of Education Excellence (CSEE) at 260 Warburton Ave. The bonds also will be used by the school to refinance approximately $3.75 million of debt on its original facility at lower interest rates.
The bonds will pay for off-site construction of a 29,000-square-foot modular building that will be installed at the rear of the Warburton Avenue school. The expansion will allow CSEE officials to add a middle-school curriculum for seventh and eighth grade students to the school”™s elementary-grades program in the 2010 school year.
The project is expected to create 25 permanent jobs and 30 construction jobs.
“The availability of high quality schools is a magnet that attracts families and the businesses that employ them to our city,” said Ellen Lynch, president and CEO of the Yonkers Economic Development Corp. “The Yonkers EDC knows that the future economic prosperity of our city rests with a well-educated work force. CSEE is doing its part to help make that possible.”
The first public charter school approved in Westchester County, CSEE opened in September 2005 and currently teaches 350 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. The school in 2009 received a five-year charter renewal from the state Board of Regents.
