Harlan Kirgan
The St. Landry Parish School is continuing to take steps that may result in a Spring 2018 tax election to pay for a capital improvement plan.
The board’s Building, Lands and Sites Committee gave the greenlight for Superintendent Patrick Jenkins to engage Volkert Inc., an engineering company, to conduct a facility assessment.
Initially, the School Board was to pay $7,000 per building, but the cost is now $5,000, Jenkins said the Wednesday meeting.
Jenkins said demographer Michael Hefner is studying the school district’s attendance zones.
The demographic study is the first phase of the capital improvement project, Jenkins said.
The Volkert facility study is the second phase, which is to be followed by developing the capital improvement plan, conducting a bond election and finally, the actual building and renovation project.
“This preliminary plan will be presented to the board for review and approval and also for public review,” Jenkins said. “That will be a critical component of it as we look at the demographic piece of it as well as the capital improvement.”
Marco Gonzalez, a Volkert program/construction manager, said the facility study will take from four to six months to complete.
The building assessments will take place during the summer followed by meetings with school employees.
The goal would be to have the preliminary facility assessment done by fall, he said.
The capital improvement plan surfaced at a board retreat in January.
Proposed at the time were a 9.8 mill increase to fund a $3,000 raise for teachers and $1,500 for support staff. Also proposed was a 11.3 mill tax to fund a 20-year $90 million bond issue for capital improvements.
Other goals would be to provide a cost of living increase, improve retention and recruitment of employees.
If voters approve the bond issue in the Spring of 2018, construction would not start until the 2019-20 school year, Gonzalez said.
Two schools, Plaisance and Leonville elementary schools, will not be assessed because of recent work.
The School Board office and the former Creswell Elementary area also off the list of sites to be assessed, Jenkins said.
The School Board has 37 sites total.
The demographic study may lead to zoning changes in the 2018-19 school year, Jenkins said.
Jenkins acknowledged the bond issue is not a certainty.
“... I do know the bond is very important. It is very difficult to pass. I’m not under any illusion regarding a tax,” he said.
The facility assessment is to be paid for by the bond issue. The committee members did not discuss how the assessment would be paid for if the bond issue does not pass.
But Jenkins said the assessment is needed even if the bond issue is not approved.
“We do need to evaluate our facilities,” he said.
The assessment would allow the district prioritize its building needs, he said.
If the bond issue passes, Jenkins said a plan needs to touch every community in the district.
The School Board is to meet at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Resource Center on Creswell Lane in Opelousas.