By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — Should the School Department take over the Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center?

The School Committee will take a preliminary crack at the question when the panel meets Wednesday at 7 p.m. — in the WACTC media room, said Schools Supt. Robert Gerardi.
Ultimately, said Gerardi, it’s a question that school officials will have to discuss with Mayor Susan D. Menard and the City Council to find what the consensus is on the issue.
Like other regional vocational schools in the state, WACTC is owned and operated by the Rhode Island  Department of Education, said Gerardi.
State officials recently informed the district that they are interested in turning over the property to the city. The school would be conveyed at no charge, but the city would have to assume the expenses of maintaining the building, which could be considerable, Gerardi said.
“In some ways, it’s an opportunity for the city,” he said. “It’s just the extra expense is something we’d have to weigh, particularly in these difficult economic times.”
Gerard said this isn’t the first time RIDE has sought to turn over WACTC to the city. “It’s come up before,” he said.
The state is also negotiating to relinquish ownership of vocational schools in East Providence and Newport, said Gerardi. Other communities appear poised to take up the offer.
While Gerardi stressed that he is not making a recommendation on the proposal at this point, he said there might be some pluses to owning the building from a financial standpoint, including an improved bond rating for the city. By taking ownership of the building, the city would be able to add an asset worth perhaps $30 million to its financial ledgers, he said.
But those dividends would have to be weighed against the cost of operating the school. Heat and electricity might be the costliest day-to-day expenses, he said.
City officials have no idea what it costs to operate WACTC, because it’s always been the state’s responsibility. But Gerardi said he has asked RIDE to supply some concrete figures. He said he does not know how long it will take to get that information.
Elliot Krieger, a spokesman for RIDE, was not available for comment on Friday.
School officials say about 550 students attend WACTC, which offers training for careers in a variety of fields, including alternative media, automotive technology, culinary arts, health, graphic arts and child care. Students from Woonsocket, Burrillville, North Smithfield and Cumberland attend the school, one of eight public vocational schools in the state.