News
School Board holds special meeting
Scott Wagar
01/21/2014
The Bottineau School Board members held a special meeting on Jan. 15, to discuss the survey results from the November 2013 Election Referendum vote, and to discuss the next steps the board members will have to take to move forward with a successful Master Facility Plan.
School board member, Paul Olson, chaired the results and gave a power point presentation on those voters who filled out the survey and returned it back to the school district. He started the presentation by giving the board’s mission statement.
“We are here to provide opportunities that allow all students to develop their potential intellectually, socially and physically as they prepare to meet the challenges of a diverse global society,” Olson said before moving on to the survey results.
For the majority of the questions asked in the survey, the three primary reasons given as to why the district residents’ voted no in the referendum vote was cost of project, increase in taxes and location of proposed site in that order.
For those who voted yes and filled out the survey, the majority of them stated the primary reason they voted yes in the referendum was because they saw the need of a new facility. They also stated they voted in favor of the bond and debt limit increase because they felt the need of a new location of the school, grade configuration and design of facility. There were also 112 surveyors who stated they preferred another option, but voted yes.
When it came to a new school facility, those who filled out the survey questions chose six items important to them for a new school, which included adequate classroom space; security and safety; library, music room and computer lab; parking and bus drop-off; adequate playground space and adequate gymnasium space all in that order.
When it came to the age of the voters, those who filled out the survey were the following:
- 65 and over - 189
- 51 to 64 – 172
- 41 to 50 – 95
- 31 to 40 – 82
- 18 to 30 – 38
- And, 30 individuals did not give their age.
In all age groups, the top reason for voting against the referendum was the cost of the project, while the top reason individuals voted yes was the need for a new facility.
Once the survey results were presented, president of the Bottineau School Board, Larry Brooks, opened a discussion on the next steps which should be taken in the master plan, time constraints in moving forward and deadlines.
When it came to the next steps in the master plan, the discussion appeared to be split between either constructing a new building or placing the entire school district under one roof.
The majority of the discussion during the evening was time constraints and deadlines. In order to have a second vote on the referendum the district will have to have the vote in early May.
Legally, a school district can only vote twice in one year; and, having the second vote is important to the school district because it could involve the loss of a $10 million low interest rate that was approved by the state for the district with its master plan.
“The election doesn’t have to be in May, but in able to take advantage of the $10 million loan at a 1.75 percent interest rate, it has to take place in May,” said Jason Kersten, superintendent of the Bottineau School District. “Because the vote failed once, and because so many schools applied for the loan and were turned down, the state is giving schools who failed the first time in their votes a six month window to vote again. If you do not do it in six months, you lose that money. So then, that $10 million would not be at that fixed rate.
“That $10 million is still in that $18.9 million bond, $10 million of that was a loan from the state, but if don’t vote in May we lose that 1.75 percent and then we are at the mercy of whatever those bonds come in at five percent, because at 2.33 percent that we were estimating the percent to be was a combination of the state loan percentage and what the bonds would be,” Kersten said. “So, the reason for the vote in May is so that we can take advantage of the low interest loan from the state of North Dakota.”
With the time the school board needs to prepare for a vote in the first part of May, time constraints are limited, which leaves the board trying to figure out if they can properly prepare for the vote with the time they have; or, if they will have to forgo the low interest loan due to schedule constraints that do not give them the time they need to plan the next steps.
For the school board, they need to decide on what options they want to present to the district voters, hold public forums and prepare for the vote.
The majority of this work needs to be concluded by early March to legally prepare for the vote in May.
If the time restraint doesn’t allow the vote in May, the school district could also be faced with looking at spending $2 million on repairs that should be done in the next few years.
“The Facility Master Plan has deferred maintenance in it and it’s ranked with projects that should be done in one to three years, four to six years and some that can wait until seven years out,” Kersten said. “There is around $2 million in maintenance cost that should be done with the next two to three years if we are going to follow that precisely.”
Kersten added the district would rather not see that happen but move forward with the master plan.
Presently, the school board is spending time discussing the best option to move forward with the answers they received in their survey.
To see the complete survey answers, the results will be posted on the school district website at http://www.bottineau.k12.nd.us/ on Friday, Jan. 31. The board is adding some explanations to their questions so people will have a better understanding when they read through the survey.
This Thursday (Jan. 23), there will be a special school board meeting at the conference room in the high school office at 6 p.m. The special meeting is open to the general public.