The Board of School Trustees is considering small facility projects at each of the corporation school locations. The projects will address energy savings, infrastructure, several roofs, renovation of the vocational building, and addition of a couple of kindergarten rooms at Milford School (if full-day kindergarten becomes a reality).
About $1.7 million would be spend at WHS for new boilers and heating /air units and new lighting for the "B" classrooms. These improvements will positively impact our utility bills, plus improve the quality of the learning environment for students.
The same amount would be spent to renovate the vocational building, which has been shared with the corporation transportation and maintenance departments. Part of that money will go toward upgrading the electrical service to the high school campus. We are out of electrical capacity and, with more computers and electrical components coming down the road, we need to increase that capacity.
About the same amount, also, would go to WMS for reroofing the building, replacing the pool air unit, and upgrading lighting for energy savings and a better learning environment.
Approximately $1 million apiece is set for Syracuse Elementary and Milford School. Those figures include roof work at each location and a small and efficient boiler for each school. Some heating / air units will be replaced at Syracuse, while kindergarten rooms are planned for Milford.
Two hundred thousand dollars at North Webster School will install a small, efficient boiler, and complete some other energy upgrades.
Safety upgrades will also take place at each building by improving the safety at entrances of each school with access control and cameras.
Work is planned in two phases over the next two summers.
The total project construction cost is set at $7.5 million for all locations.
What will this project do to your taxes? Your property taxes will be lower in 2009 with the addition of these projects! The Indiana Legislature passed laws lowering property taxes next year. With these projects, your school property taxes should be about 1/2 of what your last tax bill showed. In addition, we'll be reaping energy savings for years to come with completion of these projects.
The Board will act upon the recommended projects on October 14.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
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7 comments:
Soooooo, the state has lowered taxes and the school is spending money on buildings. Can I assume that the actual education of the students will get less funding? I'm not sure how this is going to work, but Mitch scares me!
Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
I understand your thoughts about changes being made in taxes and school funding. There have been many changes made with little time to digest them all.
Our property taxes will be lower next year because the state will use April's additional 1% sales tax increase to supplement school funding. In addition, Homestead credits will increase, too, causing lower property tax bills for many.
We can only hope that the state will continue supporting the education of our children as we have locally in the past.
We are fortunate to be at Wawasee where our property taxes will drop, the students will get a quality education, and the buildings will stay in good shape.
I understand that it is tough in todays' uncertain times, especially after ecomonic news of the last two weeks, to trust the motives those who are supposed to be looking out for us.
I agree. The students are in a perfectly fine building, but what about the classes? Why can't we have more electives for the students?
It seems that the projects are maintenance related and certainly not extravagent. Just as homeowners perform routine maintenance, so our corporation is responible to care for its physical facilities. If we let the buildings get rundown, it would cost more in the long run.
Obviously we want the best education for the students as possible. If I understand the finances correctly, this would not affect the dollars spent for direct educational expenses.
Hey could anyone see when they drove to school today?
I couldn't.
If there is any type of facility improvement can the school corporation fix those high school social studies rooms? They are terrible. First off, you have to wear a coat in there for class. Secondly, if a teacher wants to use a video cart there are cords we trip on. Thirdly, they are pie shaped and there is not a lot of room and they keep stuffing students in there and it is terrible. And lastly, you can hear every word in each classroom next to ours because the walls are removeable...it is like sitting in the next classroom....it is hard to concentrate.
When will social studies get new rooms that are functional? I am a sophomore and hope that my junior or senior year we can have adequate rooms in social studies before I graduate (I know that it will probably never happen, but anything is possible).
The WHS social studies classrooms are less than ideal for today's instruction of students. We plan to address that area within five years. I know that you will be done with your Wawasee school career by then, but others after you will benefit from the improved soundproofing, air temperature controls, and layout of the area.
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