COLUMBUS, Kan. — Columbus Faculty District voters will be questioned Tuesday to approve a $14.75 million bond issue for renovation do the job, security upgrades, price tag-saving initiatives and building routine maintenance initiatives.
The bond concern would protect the building of 4 new school rooms that would double as a storm shelter in the significant university and rework the seventh grade wing at the present higher college campus. The storm shelter will have room for 761 occupants.
Brian Smith, superintendent of educational institutions, claimed the updates would help with staffing effectiveness and cost personal savings. The recent seventh and eighth graders are bused to the large faculty for elective classes and are familiar with the campus.
“The motive we’re looking at that is for the reason that lecturers are licensed (in grades) 7-12 at the secondary level, so you can come to be a lot extra efficient, as considerably as we could likely cut down staffing as we move forward when people today leave and retire,” he said. “There will be positions we will not have to fill, and we could help you save funds there.”
College students in fourth via eighth grade on the Central Elementary and Junior Large University campus have to go outside in in between their class durations, which is a protection worry and a squander of strength discounts, Smith said. The bond problem would assist enclose some of the present properties on the Central campus, and then anything would be linked with a program of hallways.
Right after the superior faculty campus is concluded, the Central campus would bear renovations which include new school rooms and connectors, storm shelters, a cafeteria and kitchen, a media heart and much more. Highland Elementary would continue being open up right until construction is finished at Central Elementary and Junior Large Faculty. The Central campus would then home 2nd and sixth grade.
“The Highland setting up would shut,” Smith stated. “That would depart us with 3 campuses and properties. We would have a pre-K through to start with quality in our early childhood heart, a next by sixth grade campus and then a seventh as a result of 12th grade campus.”
“If we’re just closing Highland, it would conserve us $18,000 in our electrical and fuel expenditures, based on figures from the 2019-2020 school yr,” Smith mentioned. “Plus, strength expenses are going to go up I feel 10% this yr. I believe we’ll help save about $20,000 in energy expenditures by yourself, and then we’ll have more electricity-economical properties.”
Faculty districts in Kansas are approved to levy house taxes for selected resources. Property taxes for these cash are computed employing a mill rate.
A single mill is one particular greenback of property tax levied versus $1,000 of assessed valuation. The current mill levy for homeowners in the Columbus School District 43.759 mills, and the bond difficulty would boost the full school levy by at minimum 9.50 mills.
“Right now, we’re continue to functioning on our spending budget, but the most the mill levy would be is 54.054 mills,” Smith claimed. “We could deliver it down a small.”
If accepted, the bond situation would price the proprietor of a $100,000 residence around an supplemental $109 yearly, according to district details.
The evaluate involves a uncomplicated bulk to move, Smith reported. The bond would expire in 25 decades and has an normal desire amount of 2.50%.
“The past university bond was handed in 1984,” Smith mentioned. “There’s only a handful of districts in the state of Kansas that have long gone for a longer period concerning bonds staying passed.”
