District to ask for levy, new school bond

Sisters voters will decide in November whether to build a new high school and provide a "local option" levy to help fund the cash-strapped school district.

The Sisters School Board at its Thursday, August 31 meeting decided to place on the ballot both a 20-year, $22 million bond for a new high school and a four-year local option levy in the amount of 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

If the bond passes, the board plans to move middle school students to the current high school building and retire the aging middle school downtown.

School Superintendent Steve Swisher said that, if approved, the building bond would mean students could attend classes by fall of 2002 in a new high school. He said it would add $1.65/thousand of assessed property value to tax bills for 20 years.

The board wrestled for well over an hour over whether to attach a performing arts center, a sports complex-field house and a heated swimming pool to the bond. Each addition was voted down.

Superintendent Swisher estimated the cost for the additional items at $5.5 million dollars.

High School Principal Boyd Keyser, Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation director Tom Coffield, and board member Heather Wester all voiced strong support for some or all of the proposed add-ons, arguing that both students and the community would be enriched by the additional cultural and recreational opportunities.

However, Glen Lasken argued that the district needed to focus on basic educational needs.

"Our primary function is as a school board -- we are not a community board," he said. "We need to concentrate on what we really need -- as opposed to what we'd really like... I'm scared of people jumping off the bandwagon (if we included the extras)."

Board member Steve Keeton agreed: "What we need to help our students is a new high school -- we can't afford to okay something that would risk that," he said.

Several board members noted that the space to build the other structures would still exist and that the "door is open" for groups other than the school board to pursue them.

The board decisions, according to member Glen Lasken, reflect the overwhelming opinions expressed to it during intensive community outreach.

"We (board members) spent six weeks listening, getting feedback, and also studying hundreds of questionnaires returned," he said.

The final decision came on a 4-0 unanimous vote. Board chair Bill Reed withdrew from participation on the bond issue citing potential conflict of interest; his family owns property adjacent to the proposed school site.

Lasken took the lead in pushing for the bond, stating that "both the middle and high schools are bulging at the seams: if we act now, we'll be ahead of the curve instead of in a calamity."

He recited a litany of problems with the current middle school whose main buildings are over 50 years old.

"The bathrooms, locker rooms, cafeteria, and library are all seriously inadequate for the number of students...and there are hardly any sports fields to speak of," he said. "(For a school) it's too antiquated to repair."

Board members believe that they can demonstrate to voters the need for a new school.

"We need to take those (community members) that don't know the need over to the middle school so that they can see firsthand how badly we need a new school," Keeton said.

Lasken said the bond would succeed if voters understood "we'd still have a lower tax rate than our neighbors (in Redmond and Bend); the bond on the current high school is dissipating and disappearing in 10 years."

He noted that growth will spread the cost over a larger base, potentially reducing what each taxpayer pays.

The decision to seek a four-year, 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value local option levy was much easier for the board.

Board members had earlier considered cutting the levy in half during the second two years, but decided Thursday night that the district should seek the full amount for all four years.

The funds would be used recuperate from serious budget shortfalls of the past decade with their impacts on class size, library offerings, and textbook replacement.

The board also noted the impact of a $320,000 shortfall of the current biennium which led to multiple teacher lay-offs, program cuts, and delayed building maintenance.

The bulk of the levied funds, Swisher pledged, would be spent on "reducing class size in our core curriculum subjects."