Safety is the district’s number one priority when it comes to updating facilities, Columbus Municipal School District Superintendent Stanley Ellis told the Lowndes Community Foundation on Wednesday.
Ellis and CMSD Chief Financial Officer Holly Rogers have spent the last three weeks making rounds in the community to garner support for the district’s plan to issue a bond in May that will fund $36 million in facility improvements.
Many of the improvements the district plans to address, Ellis said, are necessary to ensure students’ safety.
“The things we are seeking to do are needs and not necessarily wants,” he said. “We can’t do everything that we want to do or the things we thought we could do, but there are certain things that we really need to do.”
Rogers said that the district has spent $4.5 million on general maintenance since 2019 trying to address facility issues. But due to the age of most buildings, the district’s maintenance team isn’t able to handle many of the big-ticket improvements that are needed, like updated fire protection systems.
“It’s like they’re trying to fly a kite in a storm,” she said. “Sometimes it just gets a little bit away from us.”
Several buildings in the district are in need of updated life safety measures, including fire alarms, cameras, intercoms and ADA compliant doors. Another priority for the district is addressing a drainage issue at the high school’s athletic complex that warrants $25,000 in repairs to the track annually, Rogers said.
Members of the LCF, a charitable organization that issues community grants, questioned whether consolidating schools was a consideration for the district, given that several facilities are operating at less than 50% capacity. Some were concerned the funds would go to improve buildings that may not house students anymore should schools be consolidated.
Ellis did not confirm the district is considering consolidation, but he said the board is aware of the concern. Rogers said she wouldn’t count anything out.
“I don’t think it’s impossible to think that,” she said. “… I can’t imagine that the board would put really great money in a building that might not see the whole distance of paying the debt.”
The CMSD Board of Trustees commissioned the PryorMorrow architectural firm in December to conduct a district wide study to assess what facility improvements need to be made. The results identified $96 million worth of necessary updates. Board member Telisa Young told The Dispatch in February that the board would only be pursuing around $30 million to avoid increasing the current tax rate.
Since then, the district has raised the number to $36 million. Rogers said this is a conservative number that allows the district to address immediate needs while avoiding any increase in taxes. The bond will recommit as many as 11.85 debt mills, scheduled to expire in April, that were issued in 2009 to build Columbus Middle School.
“It will not go over the $36 million because that’s the debt schedule we are going to create to ensure our payments are within what they are right now,” Rogers said.
A referendum will be required to issue the bond, and 60% of voters will need to vote yes in order to issue the bond. Ellis said the district is preparing a special call board meeting to pass a resolution to hold a vote on the bond issue tentatively scheduled for May 14.
Rogers assured members of the LCF that while the vote is right around the corner, the process has not been as rushed as it may seem.
“Please don’t think that our board woke up one day in January and said, ‘We’re going to do this,’” she said. “This is something we’ve been talking about.”
The district is also planning to host five open meetings for community members to raise their questions and concerns about the bond, CMSD Public Information Officer Mary Pollitz said. The dates and times for the community meetings have not been announced.
Ellis told the LCF he plans for facility improvements to be a continuing conversation even after the bond is issued.
“So goes the school, so goes the community,” he said. “So we have to work hand in hand to make sure that these things are a priority.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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