Seeing Needs Up Close

RANDOLPH – Community members got a chance to see Randolph Public Schools’ facility needs up close last week and study the costs of paying for the improvements.

After a town hall meeting, about 50 in attendance toured the school’s ag building as well as Randolph Elementary and continued to discuss improvements that will most likely be proposed as part of a $9.75-million bond issue put forth to voters at November’s general election.

Although no one publicly commented during the town hall, attendees asked questions and offered suggestions through the tours. Board members Sandy Owens and Lisa Linville were absent.

The school board will meet for its regular meeting Monday, Aug. 12 and vote whether or not to proceed with the bond issue. Sept. 3 is the deadline to put the special issue on the ballot .

The road to a bond issue election started back in October 2020 when the board first started looking at replacing the vocational ag building and levying funds to pay for the upgrade. COVID-19 and skyrocketing building costs forced the board to put its building plan on hold. Recent changes in legislation limit the amount boards can levy into special building funds.

The board then started studying other options to move forward with the new ag building as well as other identified needs in both the high school and elementary buildings, narrowing a 40-plus item master list with the help of a steering committee and considering different options to pay for improvements.

“This has been going on for some time and we’ve been going hard on this since February,” said Superintendent Daryl Schrunk. “A lot of time and a lot of work has been put into this.”

The board’s most recent discussions prioritized which projects to include in a possible bond issue, which projects to complete using its special building fund and which to include in a facility improvement plan to tackle in later years.

One of those priority items - asbestos removal at Randolph Elementary - was completed this summer and was paid through the special building fund.

Individual projects within the proposed bond improvements were also scaled back to come up with an overall bond amount the committee felt the community could support to arrive at information presented at the town hall meeting last week.

Along with a new vocational ag and arts building, improvements which will be addressed in the bond issue will include HVAC and window replacement, electrical and lighting upgrades, addition of fire sprinklers and a serving kitchen, replacement of corridor ceilings, renovations to restrooms and improvements to main entrance security at Randolph Elementary; and structural and roofing repairs, and air conditioning and fans added to the main gym at the high school building.

As part of its efforts to scale back project costs, the board removed stairs, three doors and one of the mezzanine spaces in the proposed new vocational ag building. Plans for a new, secured main entrance and a kitchen addition at Randolph Elementary are still in the proposal but were also scaled back significantly.

BD Construction, Kearney, is the construction management firm for the project but local contractors will be utilized whenever possible.

In total, nearly $4.9 million is planned for upgrades at the elementary, $4.2 million for a new vocational ag and arts building; and almost $650,000 for updates to the high school building.

Preliminary information provided at the town hall provided financial impacts to taxpayers using the most recent valuation information, using a $9.75 million bond for 20 years at a borrowing rate of 4.4 percent.

Randolph Public Schools district includes portions of Cedar, Wayne and Pierce counties. Final valuation numbers will be received from each county clerk by Aug. 20.

Tobin Buchanan, adviser with Northland Securities, estimated the impact to be 11.5 cents per $100 valuation, translating to $115 per year for property valued at $100,000.

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An average irrigated acre would see an increase of $4.80 per year and an average irrigated quarter would see a rise of $768 per year. Those figures are for the bond tax levy alone and do not factor in any tax asking for the school’s general fund.

For 2023-24, Randolph Public Schools’ levy came in at almost 42 cents per $100 valuation, almost 41 cents for the general fund and a little more than 1 cent levied for the special building fund. The total tax request for 2023-24 came in at $3.3 million.

The board has not finalized its budget process for 2024-25 or set its general tax asking request. The board will get its first look at the budget at its Aug. 12 meeting and the process finalized at the September meeting.

State legislation limits schools budget growth by 3 percent.

Historically, Randolph Public Schools’ tax levy is the lowest among public schools in the area. In some instances, area schools’ levies are more than double that of Randolph’s.

Even with the addition of the proposed bond levy, Randolph Public Schools levy would remain in the same position in comparison with other area schools in its tax request per pupil, Schrunk said.

A section of the school’s website labeled Facility Plans has been dedicated to sharing documents and information with the public on the proposed bond issue.

If the board decides to move ahead with placing the bond issue on the ballot, a group of board members, administrators and community members will be pushing out more information on social media and through mailers and fliers; hosting small community group meetings or town hall meetings; and provide additional information for newspaper stories.