“I don’t know when Kramer will be done, but Kramer is a go. It will happen,” Board President Mark Butterfield said at Monday’s Board of Education meeting.
All districts in Ohio were required more than a decade ago to create a facilities plan to upgrade buildings and Talawanda responded with a plan to build a new elementary, which was done when Bogan elementary opened; build a new high school, which opened last year; build a new elementary to replace Kramer and then do upgrades to Marshall elementary and Talawanda Middle School.
Districts were to use local money for the projects to be eligible for reimbursement of varying amounts from the state. Talawanda’s reimbursement was set at 24 percent.
With Bogan and the high school opened, attention turned to Kramer school. Public meetings were held late last year and early this year to look at ways to accomplish that. District Treasurer Mike Davis recommended use of Certificates of Participation, which would be used to issue bonds being paid back with the district’s Permanent Improvement funds each year.
A comment at one of those meetings sparked a months-long process which saw Talawanda moved up on the reimbursement schedule thanks to a new law that allowed money to be redirected from districts still ineligible for their funding.
Davis learned of this provision in meetings with Ohio School Facilities Commission leaders this year and applied for the money. The OSFC board voted last month to grant the funds and the last hurdle was passed on Monday when the Controlling Board gave its approval.
“Talawanda is the first district to build a new school on off-cycle funding,” Butterfield said. “It should not have occurred. This will be the first facility built by Talawanda that will not require a bond issue and additional public financing.”
Davis said last week he started the process early this year after being asked by a district resident at one of those public meetings if he had gone to Columbus about the possibility of getting the district’s reimbursement. He met with Rick Hickman, chair of the OSFC, for nearly two hours, when he “told the Talawanda story.”
One example of that story, he said, was the fact that Kramer is not air conditioned and poorly ventilated, causing doors to be propped open for air flow on hot days when school starts in August. That is a security issue, allowing access from the outside.
He was told of the off-cycle funding possibility at that meeting.
At the Talawanda board’s May meeting, he included a resolution to proceed with COPs funding of a new building for the entire $15 million cost. He called the OSFC chairman that afternoon and asked what he should do, knowing the Talawanda application was being considered. It was not a sure thing, but Davis said he asked Hickman what he would do.
“He told me, ‘I would pull it.’ I recommended the board table the resolution,” Davis said.
In July, he was notified the OSFC was considering the application because several districts eligible for funding in this cycle were not yet eligible for reimbursement. The process included a visit to the district by OSFC representatives over the summer and the request was put on the OSFC agenda for its Oct. 24 meeting.
The request was approved with current chairman Tim Keen enthusiastic about the first use of the off-cycle funding option.
“He was beaming with pride. This is a great thing for school districts,” Davis said. “I’ve got to think the fact that we are the first means we are in good financial shape.”
The state is granting $11,482,523 with Monday’s action, which will mean the estimated total Kramer project cost of $15,062,128 will be reduced by that much. Money coming from the sale of the old Talawanda building to Miami University ($1,125,000) will also go toward that amount, meaning the district will need to fund $3,036,133 through COPs, rather than the whole amount. That will put far less drain on the Permanent Improvement funds and a shorter bond issue repayment period for a savings on the interest.
Another large savings will be realized because the project can move ahead more quickly and that will mean lower construction costs which would be expected to rise the longer it takes to get to the bidding process.
“If we had to go it alone, it would really stretch our PI finds. Now we are not so highly leveraged,” Davis said.
Permanent Improvement funds are part of the district’s annual tax income, specifically locked in for that purpose and currently brings in $1.3 million per year, the treasurer said. It is money used for emergency expenses as well as the annual curriculum updates, which are on a six-year cycle through the subject areas.
There is a requirement with the granting of the reimbursement money that the district allocate a half-mill of that PI money for maintenance of the new facilities each year. That requirement is to assure they are properly maintained and not permitted to fall into disrepair, which was a big part of the reason, statewide, that the OSFC was started in the first place. It was aimed at bringing public schools around the state up to standards established in the beginning.
Sitting at his desk last week expecting a positive result from Monday’s Controlling Board meeting in Columbus, Davis looked back on the months of work on this project reflectively.
“We did the improbable,” he said.
At Monday’s Talawanda board meeting, Butterfield addressed a concern expressed from the audience about repeating the problems that arose in the construction of the new high school.
“Every board member, every staff member, every administrator learned a lot and will take that forward,” Butterfield said, adding that problems will come up in any major construction project. “Number one will be quality and budget. Number three is timely. I assure you we will take time to plan, create a timeline and try to stick to that timeline. Not many districts out there can build without a bond issue. Not many districts out there are financially stable until 2018.”
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