April 04, 2008 07:34 pm
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By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — Citing statewide enrollment trends, Pittsburg School District officials are hoping to pass a $6.1 million bond issue to add classrooms to accommodate all-day kindergarten classes at the district’s four elementary schools.
The bond issue will be on the ballot in a special election Tuesday. A simple majority is required for passage.
Superintendent Gary Price said the funds would be used to add 25 classrooms to the district’s four elementary schools to accommodate growth needs and provide space for all-day kindergarten districtwide.
“Our enrollment used to be 180 to 190 kindergartners districtwide,” he said. “Now it’s about 220 per year, and we’ve eaten up our music and art rooms.”
Enrollment has increased every year since 2002, Price said, putting a strain on available classroom space.
Proceeds from the bond issue would add about 25 new classrooms, including eight at Lakeside, six each at Westside and George Nettels, and five at Meadowlark.
The bond issue would also be used on furniture and equipment, storm shelters at each school, and to purchase property near Westside Elementary School to replace playground space that would be lost by the new construction.
One parent of a Westside Elementary kindergartner said he believes his child would like attending all-day kindergarten.
“Twice a week, she goes to the after-school program and those are her favorite days,” said Eric Dutton, whose daughter, Isabel, attends the school’s afternoon session. “She likes it.”
While his daughter may be in favor, Dutton said he hasn’t done enough research yet to determine if he will support the bond in the upcoming election.
“Frankly, I haven’t heard much about the bond issue,” he said. “It seems like I’ve heard some evidence that all-day kindergarten isn’t terribly effective. If that’s the case, I think it’d be silly to vote for an increase.”
But Alexa Posny, the state commissioner of education, said she believes all-day kindergarten provides significant benefits for children.
“Play is learning,” Posny said. “When they have free time it allows them to engage their minds, in problem-solving, in building.”
Posny also said there is a statewide increase in all-day kindergarten programs.
“Approximately 83 percent of our school districts offer some kind of all-day kindergarten,” she said.
Meadowlark Elementary School at 1602 E. 20th St. is the only school in the Pittsburg district that offers all-day kindergarten, in the form of integrated classrooms with kindergarten and first-graders.
Carol Ayers, one of the kindergarten teachers at Meadowlark, said she prefers the all-day format because it provides teachers and students more time to absorb the curriculum.
“It’s gone beyond just learning letters and numbers,” said Ayers, who has taught kindergarten for 15 years. “Now kids are learning to read short sentences.”
The district previously passed bond issues worth $11.5 million in 2001 and 2003.
Price said the board has pledged not to raise the levy of the capital outlay fund and the bond and interest fund above the total levy for those two funds in 2006, by lowering the levy for capital outlays in an equal amount.
Although he admitted that the board cannot legally obligate a future board to fluctuate capital outlays, Price said he believes the board’s intent is still important.
“They can’t tell you what next year’s going to end up; they can tell you their intent,” he said. “I think that’s what’s important about this promise, because rarely do people come out and say, this is our intent.”
Price also said that four of the seven members of the board have at least four years left on their terms, and could ostensibly serve as a majority for the five-year period.
The bond issue would cover about 77 percent of the total construction costs, with the remaining 23 percent coming from state aid for “at risk” children, Posny said.
“In order to qualify as ‘at-risk’ a child’s family must meet one of eight criteria, including being on a free or reduced lunch, or English as a second language, or poverty level,” she said. “The funding could fluctuate based on the district’s enrollment of at-risk children.”
The term of the bond issue is 15 years.
The current mill levy for the district is 51.376 mills. The board is promising to keep the levy at that level by lowering its capital outlay levy during each of the next five years.
Officials say that even without the adjustment, the levy would only need to be increased by about half a mill to 51.906 mills in order to accommodate the payments on the debt. At the increased level, the levy would only cost the owner of a $100,000 home $6.09 extra, bumping his or her annual school-tax bill from about $544 now to about $550.
Rich Ellis, the president of the school board, said the capital outlay fund is fed by a four-mill levy composed of local dollars.
Ellis said the amount by which the levy would be reduced each year would fluctuate with the amount of the district’s overall valuation: The more valuation the lesser the amount of adjustment required.
“The flexing would be based on how much the mill changes each year, based on property valuations,” he said.
According to the Kansas State Department of Education, the district’s valuation was $150,286,075 as of the 2007-2008 school year, and posted $7.29 million in property tax revenue last year based on that valuation.
The district is mandated by state law to continue to provide half-day kindergarten for parents who request it, but Price said enrollment will dictate whether half-day classes would be offered at each school or a single location.
“If we only had 10 (half-day) students across the district, we’d probably put them in one place,” he said.
Pupil-teacher ratio
Superintendent Gary Price said the district’s pupil-teacher ratio for kindergarten classes now is 17 or 18 pupils per teacher. The additional classrooms are not expected to alter the pupil-teacher ratio, he said.
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