Tuesday, September 19, 2017

EDITORIAL >> $123 million for schools

The Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District is determined to rebuild its aging schools after decades of neglect when the area was part of the Pulaski County Special School District. The school board has approved a new high school and elementary school, and a plan for a new middle school and elementary school has been presented to the school board to be built when the old high school is demolished.

The ambitious building program could cost about $123 million, much of it paid for by the state. Construction of a new $66 million high school, which will open in August 2019, is well underway as is a new $16.5 million Bobby Lester Elementary School, set to open next August. The high school is being built on the site of the old middle school near Hwy. 67/167 off Main Street, while Lester Elementary is under construction on General Samuels Road in front of Tolleson Elementary School near the air base.

According to our senior reporter John Hofheimer, a new $18 million elementary school to replace Pinewood and Dupree would be eligible for state partnership funding for the 2021-23 funding cycle. Also, it would be $5 million cheaper to build a new $23 million middle school than to fix up the existing one at the old North Pulaski High School. That’s according to Charles Stein, the former director of the state Education Department’s transportation and facilities division, who told the school board last week that renovation of the current middle school would cost about $18.8 million. The district would probably pay all the rehabilitation costs, while the district’s share of a new $23 million school – construction costs only – would be about $14 million, or $5 million less than repairs, assuming $9 million in 2019-21 state partnership money.

While technically remodels and renovations – the state calls that “safe, warm and dry” – can qualify for partnership funds, they fall to the bottom of the list and partnership money is generally gone before that, Stein explained.

Stein recommends asking for partnership money for a new middle school in the 2019-21 funding cycle.

Furthermore, he said, the 2017-19 state partnership funds were $250 million and the governor has told the legislature to find ways to cut them. Stein said after the 2019-21 partnership cycle, safe, warm and dry funds may be cut out completely and become a district maintenance-funding problem.

It would be wise for the new district to see additional state funds before other districts line up for state funding. Something tells us surrounding school districts may have similar aspirations.