The Columbus Municipal School District board is preparing to ask taxpayers to approve a bond that would fund roughly $30 million in facilities improvements.
Part of that improvement plan could do away with the magnet school model for elementary schools in favor of “grade span” campuses.
Board president Telisa Young confirmed to The Dispatch on Tuesday that the board is working with Jackson-based Young Law Group (no relation to the board member) to draft a resolution for a public referendum on the bonds. If the board approves the resolution, Young said, the election would likely be in late May.
In a special-call meeting Monday, the board discussed setting priorities from a recently completed facilities study, which identified $96 million worth of needed improvements at facilities district wide. The board commissioned the PryorMorrow architectural firm in December to conduct the study.
The board on Monday asked Michael Taylor, PryorMorrow president and managing principal architect, to provide an itemized list based on the needs of each school to assess which improvements should take priority. It is unclear when that list of priorities will be made available.
“If we move forward to taking action to have the election for the bond, we would only request that it would be around $30 million,” Young said. “That number is going to be based on keeping the debt that we have without increasing taxes.”
However, if the board doesn’t ask for a referendum, or voters reject the bond at the polls, school district taxes will drop significantly next school year.
CMSD will make its last payment in April on a $22 million bond issued in 2009 to build Columbus Middle School, district Public Information Officer Mary Pollitz told The Dispatch. That would retire 11.85 debt mills from the tax books. For a homeowner in the district, that’s equivalent to $118.50 per year per $100,000 of property value.
A bond referendum would seek to replace the debt rolling off with new debt for needed improvements over another long-term note. The value of 1 mill to the district currently sits at roughly $222,000, according to Lowndes County tax records. At that value, it would take a little more than 9 mills to raise $30 million over 15 years.
The actual number of mills needed to cover the debt payments could vary year to year, based on fluctuation of the mill value.
The referendum would require 60-percent approval to pass.
Grade span schools and campus consolidation
The board on Monday discussed converting elementary campuses to a “grade span” model, which would divide students across campuses by grade rather than by specialized curriculum.
CMSD has five elementary campuses — Cook, Fairview, Franklin, Sale and Stokes Beard — that all house Pre-K through fifth grade based on specialized curriculum, such as fine arts, international studies and technology.
At this point, Young told The Dispatch, the possibility of changing is “just a discussion.”
However, when Taylor discussed with the board the option of making smaller fixes across every campus or focus on buildings in the district that need the most work, he pointed out most of the elementary campuses are operating at a capacity of 50% or less.
He floated the idea of consolidating students at elementary campuses while work was ongoing at campuses with the most needs.
“So there is opportunity there if the board wishes,” he said. “Then you could focus more money straight to the educational spaces rather than spreading money out to do the minimum.”
Ellis clarified Tuesday that the district is not currently looking at permanently consolidating elementary campuses, though.
“At this time, we are not exploring any options for consolidating schools,” he said. “We are looking at the feasibility study, enrollment, and the board is prioritizing projects with the architect.”
Young said the board is “discussing all options.”
“We are mainly focusing right now on the improvements for the buildings,” Young said. “What we’re trying to do is make sure we are taking care of those immediate needs, utilize the funds for the buildings and move forward in phases.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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