001[Music] Moving on to 8.05. Can I get a motion to approve the resolution declaring necessity of bond issue of 70,625,000 and to submit certification to the county auditor? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Okay. So, um, before we go forward, I just want to make sure that we are all on the same page and also explain to the community how we got here. And so, if I miss anything, please jump in or feel free to add at the end. Um, as you know, we did a community forum and then this was followed up by a work session in order for this board to work together and to take into account all the feedback and to reexamine our plans and really take a eagle eye to everything and make sure that um we are doing the
002best for our students and our taxpayers. And what we all came to the realization, I mean, we kind of knew this beforehand, but it's more pressing now, is that there's really six things we talked about and six things we we learned about. Um, first, we must we must act to address growth. Um, we are at or quickly approaching capacity in all five of our buildings. Now, as Mr. Mr. Julie said during the community forum, we can't put up a no vacancy sign. Um we've got Plain City Elementary and the high school are the most pressing um capacity issues, but they're all almost there. So, we sat down and we considered redistricting um Plane City Elementary students to Monroe. We considered trailers both as a temporary and a permanent fix. Um this is really costly and
003not safe. Um we considered the impact of rising building costs which are approximately 5% year-over-year. And we considered sort of peacemealing our plan. Um but at the back of our brains, everybody here, we don't want to keep going back to the voters. We want to wait as long as possible to go back to the voters in the future. So our desire is to come up to with a plan that addresses what we need now. Not what we need in four years, what we need now and hopefully will last 10 years for the projections, but 15 to 20 years into the future. Um, so one of the problems are the rising costs, uh, building costs. So there's no question that there is no way for us to build in the future at the price we can
004pay to build now. The prices will only go up. Um, by by putting this bond back on the ballot in November, we are allowing residents who live here now to commit all the people who move here in the future. We're not giving them a choice. You want to move here, you're coming in and you're paying for our new schools. Okay. Um, we considered reconsidered the master's facility plan. Um, some of this is going to be a repeat for for some of you, but we've got five school buildings. If we knew that everyone moving into the district was going to bring a kindergartener, we could build a one elementary school and then wait until those kids need to move on to another school. But eventually, even that's not going to work. So our goal was to
005look at every single building and say, "How can we do this one time and impact every single building?" So the plan, the master's facility plan first takes the fourth grade and the preschools out of Plane City Elementary and Monroe. You're freeing up space in both of those two buildings. Then you take um you convert Kanan to a four five building and you add four additional classrooms. Now you're expanding the space at Kanan. We've got expanded space at Plane City Elementary, expanded place space at Monroe and also Kanan. >> We'll expanded capacity at Plane City Elementary. >> Capacity, >> not space, >> not right. Right. Because we're not actually adding to those buildings at this time, but we are freeing up space. So, thank you for >> um correcting my language. >> Then you build a
006junior high big enough to accommodate six through eight and you add eight classrooms to the high school and you also remove central office from the high school and use the current junior high building. You don't demolish the whole thing. You use it. You renovate that current junior high building. you put central office in there with the preschools that we have pulled out of Plane City Elementary and Monroe. So when somebody comes and says, "Why don't you just do one piece of this?" It's missing the entire plan that expands space >> and capacity in every single one of our buildings. So we sat down, we talked about making cuts to the plan. Um, we already did that. >> We took out the high school auditorium. We took out the bus garage. >> Um, we are at
007we are at bare bones on this plan. We talked about remodeling the junior high, but because the cost to remodel that junior high building is greater than 87% of the cost to rebuild, we would not get our state funding if we did that. If we merely remodeled the junior high >> 54% >> at right. So, so how it works is after a bond is approved by voters, we get in line for 54% reimbursement of the construction costs of the junior high from the state. The only way that happens is once we get a bond approved by voters and then we get 54% of the cost to construct a junior high back from the state. We take that money then and we build the auditorium potentially the bus garage. We we consider other things but this
008board is committed to building an auditorium at that time. So, we also discussed community concerns about a 6 through8 building and a campus model. I'll address those two separately. Um, some of the concerns we heard about a 6 through 8 building were having sixth graders on a bus with high schoolers. They're already there. I hated when my fifth grader got on a bus with high schoolers. We're taking the fifth graders off. So, it's a non-issue. The sixth graders are already on the bus with high schoolers. Um, curriculum design. Curriculum in the state of Ohio is designed for K through five and 6 through 12. Having the 6 through 8 building with the high school allows the teachers and the administrators to work together on curriculum for the entire grade band 6 through 12. Okay? Simplifies
009that process. Also, we talked about building design. What's going to happen to these sixth graders? Um, how about this? We have one hallway for the sixth graders. They have a separate lunch. They have a uh they have basically no co-mingling unless there are kids who are specifically taking high school classes, in which case there will be a um divi divider between the high school and the junior high. and those kids will be escorted into the high school spaces. So, um we also reviewed literature that was provided to us by our expert consulting firm Dynamics and Dr. Tom Fry. And um there is a growing body of research that supports the six through eight model. It leads to higher student achievement, leads to stronger peer and teacher relationships. It leads to greater social and emotional stability
010and stronger continuity in curriculum and school culture. Those studies also support that the greatest factor on students success is staff and administration in the building. And we this board has the utmost confidence in our staff and our administration. So let's talk about the campus model. This has benefits because it reduces cost and increases safety. First, you've got one safety person at one building versus having your safety person travel between the high school and a different location to the junior high. You also have one nurse serving seven grade levels instead of traveling between two separate buildings. You can also share staff, increasing efficiency of taxpayer dollars. Then there's busing implications. Um, the overcrowding in the current 5 through 12 bus plan can be alleviated. The busing junior high students to the high school for classes can
011be eliminated. They're already here. The campus model also provides students a smoother transition to high school. Junior high students would have a greater access to high school classes. Plus, there would be a much greater collaboration between athletics and music programs between 6 through 12. So, adding classrooms to the high school under the campus model that we have also allows us to increase the electives. It gives us way more flexibility to handle things like FFA at our building. Um, and you know, when I wrote down the word electives to in my notes about today, I wasn't even thinking of FFA. And it's not just a class. It's a lifestyle. Like, we have the ability to train these kids on so many aspects of of becoming an adult, responsible adult, and we don't have the space for
012it right now, but we can we can get there. Um, we discussed tax options because we heard a lot of people say, "Why not do an income tax?" And so when you take a bond based on property tax to the market, you can get 37 years of financing. When you take a bond based on income tax to the market, you are capped at 20 years of financing. So consider that like a a mortgage. you have a much shorter time to be able to finance this. You're going to be making much higher payments on it. >> Interest rate will also be higher. >> Pardon me. >> Interest rates will also be higher because it's not a stable source of revenue. >> You're talking about income tax versus property tax. So that we're we're also we're we're
013actually wasting taxpayer dollars because of the higher interest rates. Okay. Currently, we did the numbers. Currently, we we have um 1.25% 25% income tax on the books to support our operating expenses and we that's been working great. Um we are able to operate very efficiently. If we were to fund this bond with a income tax, we are talking about over 5% in income tax. It's a lot of money. Um we also looked at impact fees on new builders and we don't have authority the school district does not have authority to impose impact fees on new builders. Now, a lot of people said wait, but the problem with waiting is the higher costs due to inflation. And just as an example, um the difference between a bond approved in May versus a bond approved in November
014increases this current plan by $2 million, approximately $2 million. just that delay. So, we built in inflation protection. So, we're not raising the ask by $2 million, but every year that we wait, every six months that we wait, it's just increasing the cost. Then there's overcrowding and redistricting. So, um I don't you don't have to be a rocket science to know that increasing class sizes does not lead to um improved learning outcomes. And asking asking families of children who can walk to Plane City Elementary to instead be bus to Monroe is not ideal and can be prevented. So, the most important thing is waiting doesn't stop the growth. It doesn't change our need. It only creates to equates to higher taxpayer investment in the future and we want to avoid that. So I feel like
015I summarized everything we talked about. >> You did an amazing job. >> Very thorough. Um >> thank you. I I just I want the community to understand this is not easy. Every person on this board is is looking at the numbers and trying to make it work and figure it out and come up with a plan, but our guiding principle has always been taxpayer responsibility in the best interest of our students. So, anything else? >> Very well said. >> Get out of here. >> Okay. Um, roll call. >> Okay. Mrs. Delweiler. Yes. >> Mr. Hulley. >> Yes. >> Mr. McCartney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Voto. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Walker. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Okay. Can I get a motion to approve a resolution requesting state consent and special needs approval to issue
016bonds of the school district in an amount not to exceed 70,625,000 and to submit the question of such bond issue to the electors. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. I just want to reiterate that this board will be out in the public. We will be available to answer your questions. We always invite your questions and we are very familiar with the plan, with the how, with the why, why we got here. Please come to us. >> Okay. >> May I say something? Mhm. >> I have the uh opportunity to offer you the senior citizen home there in plain city for any meetings you want to hold. >> Okay. >> You've already talked about doing that. >> I'd get a key and get you in. We place anywhere between 30 to 60 people in there.
017>> Great. >> If you >> That's excellent. >> Senior center. >> Yeah, we would love to do that. We've already talked about making that happen. Can I get your information after the meeting, too? >> No, I went to Steve and talked to Steve and he said, "No problem." >> Not you. Oh, okay. >> Steve, there. >> Okay. Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Frank. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> Okay. Roll call. >> Mrs. Dweiler. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hulley. >> Yes. Mr. McCartney. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ro. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Walker. >> Yes. Motion passes.