USD 333 board approves items related to proposed bond issue

Moving forward with a plan to put a 30-year, $48.5 million bond issue before the voters in the November 2 general election, the Concordia Unified School District 333 board of education approved four items related to the project during a special meeting on Monday.
Approved by the board, during the meeting, was finalizing the scope of the bond project, finalizing the bond amount, the plan for financing the bond and a formal request to the city of Concordia to include a city-wide 1 percent educational sales tax question on the ballot in November.
The scope of the facilities improvement project approved by the board includes renovations and new additions to the current Concordia Junior-Senior High School building, removal of the current Concordia Middle School addition and constructing a new addition that will include a new kitchen, a new gymnasium and an expanded student commons area, the renovation of the existing 1956 gymnasium and improvements needed to bring the facilities in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Also including in the facilities improvement plan is renovating the USD 333 Service Center (old Middle School) and moving the fifth and sixth grade students into the building. That would not be part of the bond issue.
The board voted 5-0 to finalize the bond amount of $48.5 million for the project.
Board members Mary Beth Smith and Kevin Pounds were not present at the meeting.
The plan of finance for the improvements, including the bond and the 1 percent sales tax, was approved by the board.
The board also voted to approve asking the city to include the sales tax question on the ballot.
Representatives from USD 333 will meet with the Concordia city commission tonight to present the request for the sales tax.
If the sales tax request is approved by the city commission, the question would be placed on the ballot along with the bond issue question.
Voters in the Concordia city limits would vote on both the bond issue and sales tax questions. The voters outside of Concordia, but within the school district, would vote just on the bond issue.
The two questions would be contingent on both passing.
Superintendent of schools Quentin Breese, in presenting background information on the bond issue to the board during the meeting, said that the process has been going on for 11 years.
“We have had 11 years of study,” Breese said.
A community engagement committee was started in 2019 to work with HTK Architects and McCownGordon Construction on a facilities improvement plan.
In May of this year, the committee, along with HTK Architects and McCownGordon, recommended that the district move forward with the 30-year, $48.5 million bond issue to fund the facilities improvement plan that was approved by the school board.
“The community planning group put together a great plan,” Breese said.
Patron Insight conducted a survey for the district on the proposed facilities plan.
Of those asked in the survey if they would favor or oppose the bond issue with the 1 percent sales tax, 51 percent said they would favor it, 35 percent said they would oppose it and 14 percent said they don’t know.
The survey has a plus or minus factor of 5 percent.
“Plus or minus, I think we have a really good shot to do this and do this well,” Breese said.
Randall Hobrock, a member of the community engagement committee that worked on the facilities plan, spoke to the school members during the meeting.
Hobrock said that the existing junior-senior high school building is bad and that it needed to be knocked down and a new facility constructed.
“I come from a farming background so I am very conservative, so I wanted to do new and I wanted to do it right. That didn’t pan out. We don’t have enough tax base to get that done,” Hobrock said.
Hobrock said that the committee has done its due diligence in trying to get the dollar amount for the project knocked down to as low as they could.
“It is going to cost you $5 now or it is going to cost you $10 later, broad scope. So do it now; it is time,” Hobrock said.
Ben Retter, also a member of the community engagement team, said that there are educational goals for the children that need to be met.
“I really hope that everybody in this room realizes that we all know that the resources in this region are finite. But we also know that we have educational goals that we really owe it to our children to meet,” Retter said.
The school board is expected to take action during its regular meeting next Monday on a resolution calling for a bond election and authorizing the filing of an application with the state board of education.
Personnel
Included in the certified staff changes approved by the school board during the meeting was the hiring of Curtis Noon, Glasco, as the Concordia Middle School principal.
Noon received his bachelor of science degree in elementary education and his master of science degree in building leadership from Fort Hays State University. He was an elementary school teacher in Tescott for one year and then a teacher at the Minneapolis Grade School from 2016-2021.
Other hires approved include Amy Applebee, full-time substitute/physical education teacher; and Brandi Mudd, 6-8 interrelated teacher at Republic County.
The board accepted the resignation of Michael Loring, junior-senior high school business teacher.
Classified staff hires approved include Amy Eshbaugh, lead daycare provider; Laura Borges, assistant lead daycare provider; Gene Rundus, assistant boys’ and girls’ tennis coach; Michael Roe, head junior high girls’ basketball coach.
Budget
The proposed 2021-2022 budget was presented to the board during the meeting.
A budget hearing is scheduled for September 13 at 6 p.m.
The total expenditures for the proposed budget are $30,749,717, with an estimated tax rate of 47.254, as compared to 46.751 for 2020-2021 and 46.562 for 2019-2020.