Schools look at $14M plan to maintain buildings

By the numbers

16: New schools in Springfield City School District

$14 million: 5-year capital plan to maintain buildings

$30 million: approximate bond issue passed in 2000 to construct new schools

The Springfield City School District is considering putting a bond issue on the ballot to pay for part of a $14 million, five-year capital plan to maintain the district’s 16 new buildings.

The district hasn’t decided on the amount of a possible bond and the earliest an issue could go on the ballot would be in May, said Dale Miller, the district’s controller.

In 2000, voters approved a nearly $30 million bond to partially pay for the district’s $166-million plan to construct new buildings as part of a statewide effort to renovate and replace Ohio’s aging schools. The Springfield schools were built between 2004 and 2008.

“The community has made significant investments in these buildings and we decided to come up with a capital plan to maintain them,” Miller said. “We’re not having a problem. We just want to make plans to maintain the buildings as is.”

The capital plan is designed to help the district look at ways to address issues like improving traffic flow for pick-up and drop-off areas, and other items such as parking lots, driveways, roofs, technology, computer networks, equipment, buses, maintenance, furniture fixtures, and student chairs and desks.

The 16 buildings include 10 elementary schools, three middle schools, one alternative school, one high school and one preschool and administration building.

The oldest instructional building associated with the plan was built in 2004 and Springfield High School opened in 2008. The most recent building in the district is the transportation complex on Columbus Avenue, which opened this year.

The maintenance of the asphalt driveways, roofs and technology are of particular importance, Miller said. When the district decided to change its busing policy from serving those living one mile away to those living two miles away, that increased traffic on the asphalt at the district’s instructional buildings as more parents dropped off and picked up students.

The busing change saved the district substantial operational dollars, but Miller said the “driveways and parking lots were not designed for that volume.”

As far as the roofs, Miller said, “we want to be smart and maintain those roofs. If the roofs go, more issues will pop up in the buildings.”

The district’s technology is a head of the curve now, Miller said, and it wants to stay a head of the curve.

When asked why residents should support a bond issue, if the district decides to seek one, Miller said, “It would be a small bond issue that would continue to maintain their investment into these school buildings.”

Rachel Sumpter, who has a child at Springfield High School and another at Hayward Middle School, said she believes the district will face some opposition if it seeks a bond issue. But she wants to wait and see the details about it before making a decision on whether to support it.

“It’s going to depend on the actual structuring of the bond and what it entails for the taxpayer,” she said. “Because that is going to be the key role this time around, with the economy in the shape that it’s in.”

School board members will discuss the capital plan during a 5 p.m. Nov. 8 work session at the board’s office. The session is open to the public. However, this session won’t include time for public comment.

The next school board meeting will be Nov.15.

The school district’s operating budget for the 2012-2013 school year is $83 million. That’s about $1 million more than last school year’s budget, according to Miller.

The passage of the 5.06-mill bond issue in 2000 meant voters agreed to pay 18 percent of the cost or nearly $30 million for the new buildings. Half of a mill of that issue will also be used to help for the capital plan, Miller said.

The state paid for the rest as part of an Ohio School Facilities Commission project.

“This is an attempt for us to let the community know we value that commitment,” said Ed Leventhal, board president, of the capital plan. “We don’t want to let things go in disrepair.”