With a final ballot count and election certification taking place last week, Cheney Public Schools Superintendent Rob Roettger gave the district’s board of directors an overview at their Feb. 22 meeting of the next steps in implementing the voter-approved $52 million capital facilities bond.
The final 25 ballots remaining to be counted were done so last Thursday, Feb. 23, with the district picking up several more yes votes, finishing with a 61.14 percent approval. The election was certified on Feb. 24, with the district needing a 30 percent voter turnout to validate the results.
The final participation rate was 34.88 percent of voters casting ballots, with 6,902 of 19,788 returning ballots.
Roettger said the next steps would be to hire a construction management firm for the project, which will expand facilities at the high school along with Betz, Sunset and Windsor elementary schools by adding classrooms and other educational spaces. The district will advertise for bids on Feb. 25 and March 4, with proposals due March 10 and interviews scheduled for March 21.
Roettger said he and staff plan to meet with officials from the Central Valley School District to get their input into potential benefits to going with a General Contractor/Construction Manager model or stay with the traditional design/build model. Under the latter, an architect firm designs the project, which is then put out to bid by general contractors.
Under the General Contractor/Construction Manager model, the two firms work in tandem to design and build the facility. If the district found this model provided cost savings, they would need to seek approval from the state to pursue its use.
Roettger said they hoped to have Central Valley representatives, who have been involved in a lot of construction lately and have utilized both models, at the March 8 board meeting to discuss the options.
The board also engaged in discussions regarding separate school funding measures making their way through the state Legislature’s House and Senate. One dealt with what has been called the “levy cliff.”
School districts are allowed to raise up to 28 percent of their maintenance and operations costs through levies. That was raised from 24 percent by the Legislature in 2010, and drops back down to that level at the end of the 2017-2018 school year.
Proposed budgets by Gov. Jay Inslee, House Democrats and Senate Republicans would delay that drop by one year, but need to provide some alternative funding for districts to cover what would be lost after 2019. If funding isn’t provided, some school districts around the state have indicated they will have to make cuts to stay within budget.
Cheney’s executive director of finance, Kassidy Probert, said the levy cliff would carry a $1.1 million loss of revenue to the district. Roettger said they felt the amount could be covered by the district through reserves, and that there wasn’t the need to take drastic measures.
“We won’t need to hand out potential layoff notices,” he said. “We’re not doing that in our district.”
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)