Whitsell answers questions on school referendum
Chuck Whitsell
The Wisconsin Dells School District is asking residents’ approval to borrow $2.3 million for a building expansion at Spring Hill School in a referendum Nov. 3. District Administrator Chuck Whitsell answered the following questions posed by the Wisconsin Dells Events about the project.
Why do this project now in these rough economic times?
The Board chose to move this project forward with a referendum at this time because:
1. The space is needed for the district’s continued participation in the SAGE Class-Size Reduction Program.
2. The project could be done without increasing taxpayers’ debt service tax, which is currently $.10 per $1,000 of property value.
3. District property taxpayers could save an estimated $345,000 in interest costs for this project by funding a portion of the project with 0% Qualified School Construction Bonds, available only in 2010 through Federal stimulus legislation.
4. District taxpayers could save $60,000, because the pre-selected general contractor has agreed not to charge the district for project oversight and coordination.
5. The general contractor will bid all facets of the projects and the District believes that there may be additional savings realized by District taxpayers, in the current highly competitive labor and materials bidding environment.
6. The District’s inability to comply with the 15 students to one teacher requirement of the SAGE Class-Size Reduction Program could result in the loss of SAGE revenue, totaling $560,000 per year, potential teacher layoffs, and increased class sizes in district kindergarten through third-grade classrooms.
Can the district ask for more in Qualified School Construction Bonds to complete the project?
The minimum amount that is available state-wide, for all public schools is $98,589,000, plus an estimated additional $20M that was not used by Milwaukee Public Schools. We will seek to fund this project using the maximum amount of Qualified School Construction Bonds available to the district. After the first of the year, the state Department of Public Instruction will look at the total dollar amount of the eligible passed referendums and will determine a percentage that can be funded with Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCBs). Last year, nearly 35 percent of the qualified projects were funded using QSCBs. Our financial advisor at Robert W. Baird believes that the percentage could be higher for qualified projects this year, but 35 percent was used as a conservative estimate.
Why did the district add 4-year-old kindergarten if it didn’t have room for it?
The district chose to move forward with the implementation of 4-year-old kindergarten because there was strong parental support for 4-year-old kindergarten program and because there is overwhelming research that demonstrates that 4-year-old kindergarten programs are a highly effective method for closing the school readiness gap that exists among pre-school children.
If bids come in under $2.3 million, how much will the district borrow?