School board prepares proposed bonds

MAT-SU -- The Mat-Su Borough School Board is looking to the public to approve several school projects they say are necessary to our growing community. While currently facing several challenges -- an uncertain budget, legislation that could change funding and upcoming teacher negotiations -- the school board is preparing $6.5 million in bonds they hope will make it to the ballot in October.

These projects, that include major renovations and new buildings grouped in different packages, were originally submitted as a bond proposal last year, and, after several months of discussion between the school board and the borough assembly, the assembly Tuesday made a recommendation of four packages for the district to pursue. It is now be up to the school district to finalize the packages and propose them at a borough assembly meeting -- a step that the district hopes will ultimately end with the public voting yes on each of the proposed bonds.

Last year the district submitted a bond proposal to the assembly hoping it would appear before Mat-Su voters in an April special election. The school board at that time decided to group the 13 construction projects on their list into two packages.

The first consisted of those the state agreed to reimburse at 70 percent, with the local taxpayers paying the remaining 30 percent. These projects included a $3.5 million remodel of the old Sherrod Elementary into an administration building and $2.1 million in maintenance work, such as sprinklers at Palmer Jr. Middle School, fire alarms at several schools, siding and doors at Big Lake Elementary and ventilation improvements at Colony High.

The second package consisted of projects not approved by the state Department of Education so therefore only eligible for 60-percent reimbursement from the state. These projects included a nearly $19 million career center, a $12 million nutrition service facility and the resulting $4 million remodel of Iditarod Elementary where nutrition services is currently housed, a $12 million new Wasilla-area elementary, a $12 million new Palmer-area elementary, $1 million for the second phase of construction at Valley Pathways and new facilities for the district's two charter schools -- nearly $8 million for The Academy and $8 million for Midnight Sun Family Learning Center.

Because each package was an all-or-nothing vote, there was much discussion about the presence of certain projects that might make the packages more or less appealing to voters. The borough assembly, once presented with the proposal, could reject any of the individual projects, regroup the projects into different packages, reject the entire bond proposal, or, as the case turned out to be, ask the school board for more information before making a decision. The matter was not placed on a special election.

In January the assembly, looking at the school district's budget shortfall among other concerns, asked the district to do more research before coming back with the bond proposal. Although assembly members said they recognized the need for some of the projects included in the bond proposal they needed more information such as mill rate and actual cost to tax payers, and where operation and maintenance costs for the new projects would come from, as well as a priority list, before putting the issue before the voters.

As part of their response to those requests, the district contracted with Ivan Moore of Ivan Moore Research to conduct a survey of local residents, asking them which projects they would vote on if they were on the ballot. Kim Floyd, public information specialist with the district, shared those results at a May 7 school board meeting. According to the poll, Floyd told the board, although the entire proposed bond package did not receive as many favorable votes as they had hoped, when broke out into separate packages all but that of the charter school projects were hopeful. Ivan Moore felt the charter school projects were a risky addition to the overall package, she said, and may have brought down the original "yes" vote.

"Keep in mind [these results] are without any concerted campaign to date," Floyd said. She stressed to the board a need to apply strategic efforts if the district hopes to convince the taxpayers to vote yes on the bond in October. The purpose of the poll, she said, was to provide additional information. It was another resource to help determine how to package the projects and whether or not they should go on [the bonds] at all.

Tuesday, the borough assembly held a work session on the proposed bonds. Moore presented the results of the poll to the assembly and gave his recommendations, Floyd said, including pulling out the charter schools as a separate package. Moore also recommended leaving the administration building renovation on, based on the fact that being a smaller figure it would not negatively impact the results, she said.

"We still have to work to inform the community and explain why we need to move the administration offices and what it entails," Floyd said Wednesday. "The current building is not handicapped accessible and it was basically deemed uninhabitable by OSHA."

She said the administration is planning the move to the old Sherrod building, with or without the renovations.

As a result of the work session, the assembly preliminarily approved and recommended four packages or proposals. The first includes the nutrition service center, the career and technical education facility, the Wasilla-area school and the Valley Pathways' next phase.

The second package includes most of the upgrades and maintenance projects, such as the fire alarms, sprinklers, siding, etc. Some of these projects will have to be approved by the Department of Education since they are reimbursable up to 70 percent, Floyd said.

The third package consists of funding for the two charters schools and the fourth bond package would be the renovation of Sherrod Elementary for administration.

The new groupings do not include the Palmer-area school or the Iditarod remodel, Floyd said.

According to borough clerk Sandy Dillon, the next step is for the school administration to make a draft and formally introduce it to the assembly. In order to meet the deadline for placement on the October ballot, Dillon said, it must be introduced by July 15, allowing for a public hearing on Aug. 5.

"Of course, if they get it done earlier, I will schedule it for introduction earlier," Dillon said. The assembly will then again look at the proposal and can modify it, change it or adopt it as they see fit. "If they adopt it, it will be my direction to put it on the ballot in the October election," Dillon said.

Floyd said the district is hoping to present the proposal before the July 15 deadline so an informational campaign can begin sooner.

"The purpose of conducting the poll was to get a handle on how the community feels in general on school construction and maintenance. We really haven't done any work yet in terms of letting the community know about the projects … and yet people voted yes," Floyd said optimistically. She said the district will be working with an advocacy group - usually this consists of businesses, parents and key communicators in the area, she said - to educate the public about why these projects are important.

"I do believe the assembly is committed to these projects and very supportive," Floyd said. "We appreciate their discussion and proposal of four packages so we can get to work."