School board OKs $215M bond package

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough School Board narrowly voted in favor of a $215 million, five-year school facilities bond Thursday, but decided not to dictate to the Borough Assembly how the bond should appear on the October ballot.

Board members Sarah Welton, Mike Dunleavy, Ole Larson and Susan Pougher agreed to give Valley voters a chance to decide for themselves if homeowners should pay the borough an estimated $11.27 a month in property taxes on a $200,000 home to pay for two new schools and to upgrade current, aging facilities.

“I, too, have struggled with this issue,” said Dunleavy, board president. “This is a huge price tag, a huge commitment and it’s a game-changer. But if it’s not passed this year, it’s going to come back next year and chances are the package will be the same or larger. … What we have here is a dilemma between a Republican form of government and an initiative form of government. If we don’t pass this today, it pretty much dies here. I’m going to vote yes to move this forward because I believe the people have a right to make a decision and that’s what the initiative process is.”

The more fiscally conservative members of the board — Lynn Gattis, Erick Cordero and Neal Lacy — voted against the bond as written because of concerns for those who are already struggling to pay bills.

Gattis said she has lost a lot of sleep lately thinking about property owners who are facing foreclosures and she wonders if the district is ensuring every dollar spent on facilities is absolutely needed and being stretched as far as it possibly can.

“I cannot look my constituents in the eye and tell them we are being good stewards of their money,” Gattis said, adding she disagrees with Dunleavy when it comes to giving voters a chance to decide on the issue in the voting booth. “Voters had their say when they voted for us to go to every single boring meeting and question and re-question, and those voters I spoke with said they know we need new schools, but they don’t think they’ve been told the whole story and they’re too busy working two jobs, raising three kids and all those things.”

The board first voted 5-2 to send a resolution to the assembly asking that the $215 million package be presented to voters as one ballot question — not broken up into pieces.

Cordero had voted in favor of the bond earlier in the morning during the board’s two-day retreat at the MSBSD Central Office in Palmer, even after arguing that it’s not the buildings that make students successful.

“Having been raised in a Third World country, I can tell you buildings don’t make children be successful in the school,” said Cordero, who grew up in Mexico City and traveled throughout rural Mexico as a child. “It is the educators and the support around those educators that make them a success. I’ve been to buildings that are crumbling and I’ve been to classes that were held outside because there wasn’t a building and the kids succeeded because of their teachers. So while I understand that we live in a very different country and are blessed to have the resources to provide those services, to me the building is just that — a building.”

After hearing Gattis’ argument, Cordero mentioned that he wanted to reconsider his vote, but wasn’t sure of the correct process for making that happen. Welton told him the majority of the board just needed to agree to ask for another vote on the issue.

Later that afternoon, the board did just that and Cordero voted against the bond.

He explained afterward that he just couldn’t justify asking voters again to approve monies for artificial turf on secondary school fields after they’d already turned down those requests last year.

He said he also wants to see the borough come up with solid, long-term maintenance plans for new schools.

In the end, the board voted 4-3 to endorse the bond, but voted 4-3 against sending a resolution to the assembly asking to keep it as one package.

The new bond package was modified since the board’s last regular meeting June 15 after assembly members expressed concerns over the deletion of a new Iditarod Elementary from the last package to pare down the cost.

As the bond stands now, a new Iditarod Elementary is included and sports field and track improvements for all secondary schools are back on the table.

MSBSD facilities staff and Superintendent Ken Burnley argue that as the oldest school in the Valley, the 41-year-old building on North Wasilla-Fishhook Road has gone without any major upgrades since 1970, its electrical needs are severely outdated, it’s 12,000 square feet smaller than current designs for elementary schools and uses five portable classrooms.

Burnley said the state informed district administrators that remodeling costs would reach 70 to 80 percent the cost of a new building and the displacement of students during remodeling would cause a major strain on other facilities.

Other arguments in favor of building a new Iditarod include allowing for more community use of the building, reducing operational costs, increasing safety for students and staff, and being able to use the old school for other government purposes.

Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright told the board Thursday his city could use all the extra space it can get.

“We’re in a 1936 high school in Wasilla and we’re cramped for space,” Rupright said. “Until we can get a new library project off the launching pad, we might be able to put some reading rooms in there and perhaps use it for police services. There are a lot of things we’d like to kick around.”

Assistant Superintendent Ken Forrest reminded the board that most of the facilities in the bond package would be eligible for the state’s 70/30 financing program, leaving local taxpayers responsible for only $64 million.

To Welton, that seems like a pretty good deal for what residents and their children would get in the end.

“We’re a growing community and we need this because it does say we’re a welcoming community, too,” Welton said before the first vote. “When you bring more people in, you spread around the tax base and I believe that might be one way to sell this. The economic impact for all the dollars that are spent will bring back more and help spread the cost around to fewer people.”

For more information on the facilities bond, visit the MSBSD website at matsuk12.us and click on the green link “Budget and Financial Information” on the main page.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.