Schools seek funds for furniture

It would be a shame to build a new house and not have any furniture to put in it. The same would be true of a new school.

This is not likely to happen with the new high school being built in Sisters, scheduled to open in mid-September. But the school board and administration have not found it easy to agree on exactly how to furnish the new structure or how to pay for it.

In the meantime, some faculty members have said they heard that at its last meeting the board refused to approve furniture purchases. That's not correct.

The board has agreed to borrow funds to pay for furniture now, to be repaid with state grant funds.

The board had before it a proposed resolution authorizing a line of credit for $840,000 to furnish and equip the new high school and the remodeled middle school, at a low interest rate (2.765 percent) offered by the Bank of the Cascades.

Superintendent Steve Swisher explained that the loan was necessary because the district must buy furniture now but won't know until next spring how much help it can expect for this purpose from the state.

A law adopted several years ago set up a grant program to pay districts for furniture and equipment for new schools at up to 8 percent of total construction costs. But the actual amount appropriated varies from year to year. This year, it is set at 3.8 percent, which in Sisters' case would bring in more than $800,000.

Swisher said Sisters won't know how much it might receive for 2003-2004 until next February and in the meantime should act conservatively. Although the line of credit would be for $840,000, Swisher proposed not obligating more than about $400,000 until October, when a clearer indication of the state funding level will be available.

After some discussion, board member Steve Keeton proposed that the board authorize a loan of only $500,000.

In the end, however, previous motions were withdrawn and Keeton moved to approve the resolution as originally proposed -- with a line of credit for $840,000 -- but with the condition that no funds be spent without prior board approval.

That motion passed 4 to 1, with Eric Dolson dissenting.

The topic is on the agenda again on Monday, April 7.