Committee Moves Toward New Pierceton Elementary
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Daniel [email protected]
The Whitko School Board met Monday night and heard the recommendations from the facility planning committee which has met, in all, about a dozen times in the last couple of months to determine a 25-year plan for Whitko Schools.
The recommendations were:
– Keep elementary schools in Pierceton and South Whitley rather than consolidating into one elementary school.
– Keep elementary schools at kindergarten through fifth grade.
– Build a new Pierceton Elementary and completely demolish the current building.
– Move the central office from Pierceton to the middle school in Larwill.
– Keep the tax levy flat or declining.
Superintendent Steve Clason said he believes the plan laid out by the committee will address the building needs for the school corporation through 2040.
While this may eventually mean these recommendations come to pass, they are a long way from being realized.
If the board decides to officially move forward with the recommendations, they have to determine when the project will take place, select an architect and start planning.
At that point, the plan must move forward, and since the estimated cost of the project exceeds $12 million, it must go to a referendum that would be voted on by voters in the corporation.
The referendum can appear on a primary, general or special election ballot.
If the school board wanted the referendum to be voted on in 2012, without a special election, it would either have to appear on the May 8 primary ballot or the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
If the referendum were to pass, then bidding and another board approval would have to take place before the project could begin construction.
The project is currently budgeted at around $22 million.
Should that number appear on the referendum, by law, the cost of the project could not exceed that amount.
“We have to make sure we don’t mortgage our future,” said Clason. “I wasn’t looking for some big building project. I never wanted that.”
Clason said he’s learned from school corporations that take on big building projects when they can’t afford them.
Clason and the committee said they can move forward with a building project without increasing local taxes.
The current debt the school has will be reduced by 25 percent by 2015.
The current debt will be eliminated by 2019.
During his legislative update, Clason said that Right To Work legislation will dominate the state legislature’s time when they are back in session and that some education reforms may be put on the back burner.
He also commented on the recent discovery of more than $300 million in an account by the state.
He noted that he found it odd that amount was about the amount schools had to cut statewide in staff in 2009.
Clason said that the state is looking at potentially taking over deciding what superintendents make rather than letting school boards decide that.
Clason also said that adding multiple count dates to determine how many kids are attending a school may be looked at.
He noted that since its count day, Whitko has added 15 students.
Those 15 students won’t count toward funding the school gets from the state.
Clason said that there have been instances where kids have been enrolled in charter or parochial schools on count day, then once counted there they move to a public school.
Tom McFarland, director of financial operations for Whitko, said the corporation will close out 2011 with $1.3 million in its general fund.
McFarland said that is slightly misleading because of money the school received from a federal jobs bill in 2011.
Pierceton Elementary was recently approved for a $16,000 early literacy grant.
Clason said that high school graduation requirements have changed.
That includes taking high school math as a senior and at least three math classes in four years.
Clason said that will put a strain on math teachers at the high school who currently teach a full schedule.
He told the board that at some point they may need to add a part-time math teacher.
The board’s next meeting is Jan. 16 at the administration building in Pierceton.
A board of finance meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. with the regular meeting taking place right after.[[In-content Ad]]
The Whitko School Board met Monday night and heard the recommendations from the facility planning committee which has met, in all, about a dozen times in the last couple of months to determine a 25-year plan for Whitko Schools.
The recommendations were:
– Keep elementary schools in Pierceton and South Whitley rather than consolidating into one elementary school.
– Keep elementary schools at kindergarten through fifth grade.
– Build a new Pierceton Elementary and completely demolish the current building.
– Move the central office from Pierceton to the middle school in Larwill.
– Keep the tax levy flat or declining.
Superintendent Steve Clason said he believes the plan laid out by the committee will address the building needs for the school corporation through 2040.
While this may eventually mean these recommendations come to pass, they are a long way from being realized.
If the board decides to officially move forward with the recommendations, they have to determine when the project will take place, select an architect and start planning.
At that point, the plan must move forward, and since the estimated cost of the project exceeds $12 million, it must go to a referendum that would be voted on by voters in the corporation.
The referendum can appear on a primary, general or special election ballot.
If the school board wanted the referendum to be voted on in 2012, without a special election, it would either have to appear on the May 8 primary ballot or the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
If the referendum were to pass, then bidding and another board approval would have to take place before the project could begin construction.
The project is currently budgeted at around $22 million.
Should that number appear on the referendum, by law, the cost of the project could not exceed that amount.
“We have to make sure we don’t mortgage our future,” said Clason. “I wasn’t looking for some big building project. I never wanted that.”
Clason said he’s learned from school corporations that take on big building projects when they can’t afford them.
Clason and the committee said they can move forward with a building project without increasing local taxes.
The current debt the school has will be reduced by 25 percent by 2015.
The current debt will be eliminated by 2019.
During his legislative update, Clason said that Right To Work legislation will dominate the state legislature’s time when they are back in session and that some education reforms may be put on the back burner.
He also commented on the recent discovery of more than $300 million in an account by the state.
He noted that he found it odd that amount was about the amount schools had to cut statewide in staff in 2009.
Clason said that the state is looking at potentially taking over deciding what superintendents make rather than letting school boards decide that.
Clason also said that adding multiple count dates to determine how many kids are attending a school may be looked at.
He noted that since its count day, Whitko has added 15 students.
Those 15 students won’t count toward funding the school gets from the state.
Clason said that there have been instances where kids have been enrolled in charter or parochial schools on count day, then once counted there they move to a public school.
Tom McFarland, director of financial operations for Whitko, said the corporation will close out 2011 with $1.3 million in its general fund.
McFarland said that is slightly misleading because of money the school received from a federal jobs bill in 2011.
Pierceton Elementary was recently approved for a $16,000 early literacy grant.
Clason said that high school graduation requirements have changed.
That includes taking high school math as a senior and at least three math classes in four years.
Clason said that will put a strain on math teachers at the high school who currently teach a full schedule.
He told the board that at some point they may need to add a part-time math teacher.
The board’s next meeting is Jan. 16 at the administration building in Pierceton.
A board of finance meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. with the regular meeting taking place right after.[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092