7/5/2012 - South Side Leader
     

COVENTRY — The fate of a plan to construct a new Coventry High School lies in the hands of voters living in the Coventry Local Schools District.

When they go to the polls for the Aug. 7 Special Election, voters will see Issue No. 4, a combined 5.99-mill levy and bond issue.

Coventry Local Schools Treasurer Aaron Butts explained 4.89 mills would be used for the bond, which would extend 34 years, and 1.1 mills for a permanent improvement levy.

According to district officials, the bond issue would allow for the construction of a new state-of-the-art high school for ninth through 12th grades, including a new high school gymnasium, increased parking and paving and other site improvements. District officials said the high school would be built at the current Erwine Intermediate School site, and the current Erwine building would be demolished as part of the project.

Superintendent Russell Chaboudy said all of the elementary students would be consolidated. The existing high school would be transformed into a new elementary school for kindergarten through fifth grades, complete with a new gymnasium. The roof would be upgraded, technology added and additional security measures put in place, he said. The district would see a savings with the closing of Turkeyfoot Elementary School, he added.

If approved, the bond and improvement levy would allow for a new heating and cooling system to be installed, the windows and roof replaced, new classrooms added, technology upgraded, security upgraded and paving at Coventry Middle School.

Additionally, the plan calls for the relocation of the existing pre-engineered building at Turkeyfoot, and it would be converted into the district’s administrative offices.

District officials said the ballot issue, if passed by voters, also would fund the construction of a new maintenance shop and storage facilities, outdoor basketball and tennis courts and a football and soccer practice facility, with the sites still to be determined.

Chaboudy announced the ballot issue in early May, when he learned the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) — an independent state agency that helps fund the construction of new schools or renovations to existing ones to improve the education experience — was offering the district $11 million toward a $39.3 million construction and renovation project. He explained the district was moved up on the list to receive the funding, and the board moved quickly to take advantage of the opportunity.

Butts said the permanent improvement component would be used to reduce outstanding debt currently being paid from the General Fund and to create and implement a preventive maintenance program for district facilities. He said this would allow the district to proactively address maintenance issues. Since the OSFC would be building the high school, it would require a 0.5-mill facility maintenance fund be created to maintain the new high school, he explained. The district is asking for an extra 0.6 mill to reduce the debt payments that are coming from the General Fund, district officials said.

Butts said the median household value in the Portage Lakes area is $83,300. The project would cost property owners $12.73 per month based on Portage Lakes’ median household value. It would cost someone older than 65 $8.91 per month, he said.

Butts said it is critical for voters to approve the measure, as the district currently is paying between $250,000 and $300,000 a year on maintenance and repairs of outdated buildings. The district currently does not have a permanent improvement levy in place, so all maintenance and repair bills come directly out of the General Fund, which is used to pay staff, he has explained.

“The more the district spends on maintenance and repairs, the less money the district has to pay teachers and support staff,” he has said.

Butts estimated the district would save $600,000 a year if the issue passed. He said the money now spent keeping the buildings in operation could be used to save future jobs.

Chaboudy has said an architect would begin designing the new high school if and when the combined issue is approved by voters.

If the issue does not pass, the district would be forced to look at further cuts at the end of next year, Butts said. According to district officials, the district would be forced to render control of spending to the state and no longer decide what reductions and cuts are made.

Additionally, if the district does not approve a bond issue by next spring, the money being offered by the OSFC would go to another district in the state, Chaboudy has said.

“The passage of the bond and [permanent improvement] issue is beyond critical to the survival of our district,” Butts said. “We could achieve renovated buildings and a new high school, as well as reduce operating expenses and debt in the General Fund. The successful passage will also require less in new operating funds in the future based on current revenue projections from the state.”

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