School plans include three new buildings

School plans include three new buildings
Board opts for slower, no-tax growth.

By JANESE HEAVIN of the Tribune’s staff

Published Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Columbia voters will be asked over the next six years to approve $180 million in bonds that would allow the school district to build a new high school and two elementary schools without a tax increase.

PROPOSED SCHOOL BONDS

● April 2007 – $60 million. No-tax increase bond issue to build the first of three phases of a major high school and one elementary school; install air conditioning and make other repairs in five existing school buildings.

● April 2011 – $60 million. No-tax increase bond issue to build the second phase of the high school, allowing the district to reconfigure grade levels to include grades K-5 elementary schools, 6-8 intermediate schools and 9-12 high schools, eliminating either the junior high or middle school level.

● April 2013 – $60 million. No-tax increase bond issue to finish high school, build a second new elementary school. Technology upgrades and other improvements would be funded across the district.

The school board unanimously approved a three-phase, no-tax-increase bonding package at last night’s meeting. With $60 million bond issues in 2007, 2011 and 2013, the district plans to build a new high school and two new elementary schools, as well as upgrade existing buildings.

The no-tax bond proposals are "a safe, sure, deliberate process to get this thing going, to get the construction process going," school board Vice President Don Ludwig told the Tribune this morning.

Ludwig originally supported a more aggressive plan that would have addressed all of the district’s facility needs using $295 million in bond packages and a 13-cent tax increase. But he rejected that plan last night, saying the district doesn’t have the staff to orchestrate the facility changes in a short time.

Part of the proposed changes - reconfiguring the grade levels to eliminate either the middle school or junior high level - would require curriculum realignment, staffing changes and a lot of manpower and planning, Ludwig said. "I had my corporate hat on," he said. "In business, when you do an aggressive plan, you just hire people to get it done. In the public sector, it’s a little different. You’re at the mercy of patrons, and if something goes awry, the consequences are long- term."

Superintendent Phyllis Chase met individually with school board members last week to go over the funding options and make her no-tax-increase recommendation.

School board member Michelle Gadbois said that one-on-one meeting gave her a better understanding of the funding options. However, she said, she would have liked more public discussion about the alternatives. She said she felt "rushed" to approve the funding package last night. "It’s a big decision for Columbia. We spent more time with the public discussing the 403(b) plan," she said, referring to the discussions about teacher retirement investments that spanned several months earlier this year.

Gadbois said what finally convinced her to "go with the flow" and vote with the board was Ludwig’s concern that the construction project "be done in stages so it’s done well."

Gadbois last night questioned whether the board would ask voters for an operational tax levy in the near future. However, board President Karla DeSpain told her that was unrelated to the facilities discussion.

But how the district will pay for operating new school buildings is an "open question," Ludwig admitted. "Will it take an operating levy increase? We don’t know."

Assistant Superintendent Jacque Cowherd said the new buildings would eliminate the need to rent mobile classrooms and would provide energy efficiency measures that would save operating expenses. Any increase in assessed valuation, commercial growth and increases in state aid that accompanies additional students would also offset the costs.

Reach Janese Heavin at (573) 815-1705 or jheavin@tribmail.com.