Citizens Committee recommends $85.6 million bond for school facilities
(Posted: 10 a.m. July 20, 2010)
A citizens committee appointed last spring to study the facility needs of the school district recommended Monday that Liberty Hill school trustees place an $85.6 million bond proposal on the November General Election ballot -- $71 million of which would be used to build a new high school and athletic facilities to serve 1,600 students.
"We are 100 percent in agreement with this vision," said Marty Massey, chair of the 20-member Citizens Committee for School Facilities. "We are more than satisfied with this plan. We think it's the right thing for this community. And the comments we've been hearing from people in the community are positive."
The new high school complex would be built on a 96-acre parcel of land on SH 29, just west of Liberty Hill across the highway from the Liberty Hill Cemetery. The land was purchased by the school district last summer for about $1 million using bonds approved by voters in a 2006 election.
Although the 275,000-square-foot facility is not yet designed, architect Thomas Lueck of Huckabee & Associates, said the list of amenities presented to school trustees are common for schools this size. Among those are 46 classrooms, nine science labs, three gyms, space for career technology and fine arts classes, as well as an auditorium that would seat 900 people.
The complex with parking for 1,100 vehicles, would include a football stadium and two practice football fields, a baseball field and softball field, as well as eight tennis courts. Each sport would have its own field house with locker rooms, and concession stands.
Lueck said the football stadium would seat 5,000 people, and includes eight-lane track, a field house with training and weight rooms, and two concession stands. The baseball and softball fields would each seat 500.
Lueck said the $71 million price tag is a "turnkey price" and would include everything from construction, furniture and technology, to all of the design and permit fees. The facilities would be powered by geo-thermal mechanical systems.
"Obviously, this is a bigger building than what you have now, but we tried to give you room to grow," he said.
He said the Committee used enrollment history and projections to set a module of 400 students per grade level, which is how they arrived at a high school campus that would serve up to 1,600 students. The current facility was built in 2000 to accommodate 600 students, and in September 2009, 746 were enrolled. The high school is using several portable buildings as classrooms, and Lueck said before the new campus is ready for move-in, more portable buildings will be needed.
Massey said the Committee looked at enrollment projections for 10 years into the future, and wanted a building that would last 70 years.
Also included in the Committee's proposal are renovations at existing schools. When the new high school is complete, the existing facility will become the junior high housing students in grades seven and eight. The existing junior high will become an intermediate school for grades five and six.
In April, the architectural firm identified deficiencies at the high school that would be corrected before it became a junior high campus. Some of those issues included outside drainage, secured entries to the building, and changes that would improve access for students with disabilities.
The existing junior high campus would be renovated providing more classroom space without the use of portable buildings. The architect's plan would have classroom space for 800 students under one roof. The existing library would become classrooms, the cafeteria would become the library and a new cafeteria would be created. For fifth and sixth grades, only one gym is needed and existing locker rooms would become classrooms.
Liberty Hill Elementary School (Pre-kindergarten through first grade) and Bill Burden Elementary School (grades two through four) would continue to house the same grade levels. Improvements slated for those schools include an expanded kitchen for the Elementary cafeteria, and an additional parking lot at Burden Elementary that would hold 42 vehicles.
Superintendent Dr. Rob Hart said the existing intermediate campus would no longer be used as a school. Instead, the school district's administrative offices will move to that campus and the district would eventually sell its office building on SH 29. He said those changes would come later after all of the student needs are met.
In addition to the new high school complex and other school renovations, the citizens committee recommended $800,000 be built into the bond proposal for future land purchases.
While the Committee's original recommendation to the Board in January called for a new high school complex and a junior high, Hart told Radio Free Liberty Hill that plans changed after the panel began working with the architect in March.
"They started big and narrowed down the needs," Hart said. "When they really got into the numbers, we didn't need a new junior high campus now."
Hart and the Board commended the work of the Committee, which volunteered a lot of time to researching the facilities and developing ideas for improvements.
Trustees took no action on the recommendation Monday, but Hart said the proposal will be on the August 16 meeting agenda. In order for the bond proposal to appear on the November General Election ballot, the Board must call for an election by August 24.
If the package is approved by voters, the bidding process would begin next summer and the high school could open in 2013.
In other business Monday, the Board approved an Energy Savings Performance Contract with Schneider Electric Buildings Americas, Inc., that will allow the district to replace aging air conditioning units and install energy-efficient lighting in all facilities and save $88,728 per year on utility costs for 15 years. The improvements will be made using Qualifying School Construction Bonds, which are backed by federal stimulus dollars and authorized at the state level by Texas Education Agency. The district will have up to 20 years to repay the bonds.
Vince Zubicek of Schneider Electric first presented the proposal to the Board in March. At that time, he said the school district paid about $503,500 in utility costs in 2009.
Zubicek said the work should be complete within 10 months, at which time the district should receive a rebate check for $26,000 from Pedernales Electric Coop as a result of the improvements.
Also Monday, the Board heard an update by Business Manager Frank Watson on preparations for the 2010-2011 budget. He said Williamson County Appraisal District is expected to release a report July 26 of the certified property values -- numbers that are needed to prepare an accurate estimate of anticipated revenue. Property taxes account for 61 percent of the school district's revenue.
Watson told the Board in June that his early estimate of taxable value in the Liberty Hill Independent School District is about $1.1 billion for 2010-2011. With the district's Maintenance & Operations tax rate at its limit of $1.04 per $100 property valuation, and the INS rate at the current $0.22 per $100 property valuation, local income from property taxes is estimated at $13,912,800.
State funding, which accounts for 30 percent of the district's revenue, is determined by the number of students enrolled. Watson said he is projecting Average Daily Attendance at 2,710 -- up 4.7 percent from the 2009-2010 academic year. Based on current state funding formulas, that would mean $7.3 million in state funds.
Federal funding, which accounts for the remaining 9 percent of the district's income, will be about $2.1 million, he said.
"We are working on expenditures, keeping them in line with what we are expecting in revenue," he said.
Watson said he will present a budget to the Board for discussion and possible adoption at its regular meeting August 16.
He predicted that school districts will face more financing challenges in the future as the state looks for ways to reduce spending. When the Legislature convenes in January 2011, Watson predicted lawmakers will consider capping the amount districts can have in their fund balances. In doing this, districts would be forced to use more of that money rather than pull from state resources.
Hart added that under a plan like that, the state would likely reduce its contribution to districts that have a fund balance larger than the capped amount.
In other business, the Board:
* Adopted the Student Code of Conduct for the coming academic year. Hart said the document is based on the model created by Texas Association of School Boards, and contains no significant changes from the previous school year. In response to a question by Trustee Shawn Roberts regarding restrictions on the use of cell phones, Hart said the high school administration has some discretion on the enforcement of this rule.
* Reconvened from a 25-minute executive session on personnel matters to accept the resignation of Tina Davis and hire a number of new employees. Those include Jamie Bell to teach third grade at Burden Elementary; Audra Boyd to teach fourth grade at Burden Elementary; Lisa Frimpter to teach second grade at Burden Elementary; Deborah Gotcher to teach fourth grade at Burden Elementary; Christa McCoy to teach first grade at LH Elementary; Rikki Moore as Speech Language Pathlogist; Brittany Norris to teach American Sign Language at the High School; Kelsy Quin to teach math and girls athletics at the Junior High; William Smith to teach math and boys athletics at the Junior High; and Ashley Sugimura to teach pre-kindergarten at LH Elementary.
* Heard a presentation by the architectural firm regarding its goals for customer service, which included making school trustees "heroes in the community." As part of the presentation, company employees treated trustees and school district employees in attendance Monday to hot dogs prepared by Huckabee staff.
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