SPS task force will recommend $220M bond in April, prioritizing specific projects
The Community Task Force on Facilities agreed Tuesday to recommend the school board ask voters for a bond issue of up to $220 million in April.
In a four-hour meeting, the group of nearly 30 volunteers placed the highest priority on these five projects, in order:
A new Pipkin Middle School, with preference placed on finding a larger campus in the same neighborhood;
Safety upgrades including storm shelters at six elementary schools: Cowden, Holland, Mann, Pittman, Watkins and Wilder;
A renovation of Pershing, either maintaining the K-8 structure or moving to just a middle school;
A new, one-story Robberson Community School, on the south part of the campus farther away from Kearney Street;
A new Reed Academy on the same campus.
The task force, convened in July, is made up of students, parents, educators and business leaders. They reviewed data, studied facility reports, examined funding issues and toured nearly a dozen buildings found to be in the worst shape by a national consulting firm.
They used cost estimates, and discussion, to narrow project preferences before ranking them Tuesday to determine their priorities.
An overwhelming majority of the task force agreed the board should pursue a bond issue in April that, if approved by voters, will not change the tax rate paid by property owners.
The current debt-service levy for the district is 73 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Funds generated by that can be used to pay down existing and new bond debt for capital projects.
"There is an obvious need. I mean, that is the bottom line for me," said task force member Marshall Kinne. "Regardless of whether you think the amount is right, or the levy is right, it seems to me there is no doubt there is a need."
A few argued the board should wait until 2024 to see if interest rates and construction costs go down, the economy improves or enrollment increases.
Task force member Tyler Creach, who argued student achievement must drive the proposal, said waiting may result in lower interest rates.
"Costs are up. Construction costs have all been high," Creach said. "Lumber has now come back down to pre-pandemic levels and...everything else hasn't and it may never, so there are a lot of factors. Nobody has a crystal ball."
"The need hasn't gone away and it's not going to go away in a year or two years. We can roll the bones on time and say 'Well, let's just wait and see what happens with financial markets and financial conditions and things,'" said task force member Tim Rosenbury, who noted costs may go up or down during the wait. " ... And during that time we did nothing. And the needs were still there."
Task force member Carl Herd said the district was in danger of building "empty classrooms" due to an enrollment dip during the pandemic.
Herd, who wanted his opposition to a bond noted for the record, said academics are more important than facilities and any funding request ought to wait until the board finishes its new strategic plan, a draft of which is due to the state by mid-December.
To place a bond issue on the April ballot, the board must make a decision by early January.
"That new strategic plan will guide the district on how we handle the academic part and if we don't get the academic part right, you can expect to lose more students," he said.
Herd said he supported construction of a new Pipkin, Reed or Robberson but only if the need is still there in 2024. "The destiny of R-12 is at stake and I am confident that this board and administration can turn R-12 around. Let's give them a chance."
Sophia Leonard, a student member of the task force, said fixing a school "that leaks, that has asbestos tile, that has uneven floors, that has unsafe stairs" is the right thing to do for the children trying to learn in those buildings.
"You're saying we're going to let these issues sit and fester for the next two years? You don't want to do that. The need is here and the need is now," she said.
Leonard said the enrollment dip and the condition of certain schools may be related.
"The solution then is to go in and reinvest in the district and to reinvest in the physical components of it as soon as you possibly can. That is how you are going to show the community, that is how you are going to show people that want to move into the community that this is where you want to be, this is where you want your children to be," Leonard said.
A year after voters rejected a bond issue in 2017, the board convened the original Community Task Force on Facilities. It met for months in 2018 and identified the size and projects for a successful $168 million bond issue in 2019. Final projects are wrapping up this year.
The original task force identified enough deficient facilities for two additional bond issues. The board at the time made no promises regarding future funding requests, but vowed to revisit the report to assess next steps. All major projects identified by the new task force were also listed as needs in the original report.
"The bottom line is that we promised that we would do this. I mean, there are enough people here that were here last time. We gave our word, so did the district," said task force member Margo Griffith.
"...We gave our word to our community. We gave our word to our teachers. We gave our word to the kids. If we don't do it, we're liars."
"There is a lot of momentum. You see what's going on, what has happened and it's impressive and I feel like it's a good time to keep it going," said Joy Robertson, a task force member.
Co-chaired by David Hall and Bridget Dierks, the task force will meet Thursday at Kraft Administrative Center to finalize a report expected to be presented to the school board as early as Oct. 11.
Any decision regarding the size, scope and timing of a future bond will be made by the board.
Board members Scott Crise, Steve Makoski and Shurita Thomas-Tate served as liaisons to the task force, where they listened but did not vote, and Kelly Byrne attended Tuesday to observe.
On Tuesday, Crise thanked the volunteers for their time and their commitment to students, teachers and staff. He said the board is looking forward to discussing the group's report.
At the Tuesday meeting in the Pipkin library, the task force started by discussing nearly $38 million in proposed safety upgrades.
In addition to the storm shelters, they supported proxy access on all exterior doors, door alarms on all exterior doors, additional cameras, roof security sensors, playground fencing, and installing protective glass film on all ground-floor windows and doors.
A majority did not recommend using a bond to pay to expand the school police dispatch center or installing firearm detection software on school cameras.
The task force then weighed renovation, new construction and, in relocation options for a variety of schools including Glendale High School; Pipkin and Reed middle schools; Pershing and Pleasant View, which are K-8 buildings; Campbell Early Childhood Center; and Bingham, Bissett, Bowerman, Robberson and Rountree elementary schools.
The estimated costs for the five priority projects included:
Pershing − $41.8 to $50.5 million, depending on the grade configuration, K-8 or 6-8
Pipkin − $53 million
Reed − $59.4 million
Safety upgrades − $37 million
Robberson − $31.7 million
Hall, the co-chair, noted the total costs exceed $220 million but there is wiggle room for board to revise the scope of the projects, including safety upgrades.
He and Dierks said the report will reflect options for Pershing and Pipkin. The board will decide if Pershing remains a K-8 or only serves middle school (splitting its elementary students to two nearby elementary schools, where additions will be built).
The task force felt strongly that the campus for Pipkin was too small and it should be rebuilt in another location nearby if land can be found.
Task force member Jeff Wells said the plan for a new Robberson calls for a capacity of 350 students but it has fewer than 170 right now.
"That opens up the very politically untenable question: Do you close Robberson? Because that is what everybody wants to do," Wells said, who described it as derelict. "And then you can pay for everybody."
Members of the task force pushed back, saying not everybody wants to close the school. Cheryl Clay, a member of the original and new task forces, said the condition of the building may be a factor in the low enrollment.
"Parents don't want to send their kids to that little raggedy school. Boyd had a very low enrollment too and the new Boyd, they have a waiting list to get in there," Clay said. The Boyd project was part of the 2019 bond issue.
Clay said schools on the northside were not properly maintained and to make decisions about Robberson, and other schools, you have to know the history of the neighborhood.
"I don't know who is saying that they want that school to be closed. There is a huge population of elementary children over in that area that I believe will come back if they have a decent school to come back to," Clay said.
A century ago, the district built three middle schools − Reed, Pipkin and Jarrett − referred to as "the triplets." The 2019 bond included a new Jarrett and a majority of the task force supported building a new Pipkin. But there was discussion about just renovating, not rebuilding, Reed.
"Jarrett got a brand new building. Pipkin we're talking a brand new building so to say that Reed, which would be on the outside looking in, I just don't think that that's fair to that community," said task force member Rich Dameron. "...It has been better taken care of and to kind of penalize them for taking better care of their facility I think it would be totally wrong."
Task force members
The final list of task force members, which include representatives from all high school feeder patterns:
Bridget Dierks, co-chair
David Hall, co-chair
Mike Brothers, public relations manager, Forvis
Cheryl Clay, community volunteer
Tyler Creach, CFO, Alliance Capital Investors
Rich Dameron, educator
Janet Dankert, CEO, Community Partnership of the Ozarks
Mark Dixon, president, Bartley-Decatur Neighborhood Center
Melanie Donnell, educator
Craig Edwards, director of development, Bryan Properties
Jim Farrell, chief, Springfield school police
Emily Givens, development and investment specialist, Bryan Properties
Margo Griffith, educator
Josh Groves, educator
Brandy Harris, CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield
Carl Herd, retired educator
Tyler Holt, student
Sophia Leonard, student
Marshall Kinne, director of compliance, Med-Pay
Tom Prater, eye surgeon
Crystal Quade, state lawmaker
Royce Reding, CEO, Nevont
Joy Robertson, community volunteer
Tim Rosenbury, director of quality of place initiatives, city of Springfield
Keke Rover, director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Burrell Behavioral Health
Jacob Ruder, executive director, Springfield Council of Better Business
Teresa Simpson, instructor, Springfield Ballet
Mark Stratton, general manager, U.S. Baseball Park
Becky Volz, Springfield Council of PTAs
Jeff Wells, civil engineer
Paul Williams, chief, Springfield police
Claudette Riley is the education reporter for the News-Leader. Email news tips to criley@news-leader.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Coverage of SPS task force on facilities final meeting
