Guthrie BOE preparing for $45M school bond proposal

The Guthrie Board of Education is gearing up for a significant decision at their upcoming May board meeting which would be approving a proposal to allow district patrons to vote on a $45 million school bond in August.

Revealed during a special board meeting last week, the proposed bond details include top priorities and funding options.

At April’s school board meeting, the Long Range Planning Committee, comprised of local citizens, presented their findings to the board after extensive discussions and building assessments across the district.

If approved, with an August 27 election, the bond would address capacity issues at multiple schools, with plans for constructing a new school on the town’s east side.

The district had previously acquired 38 acres of land for this purpose in August 2019, envisioning the construction of a new elementary school. With a successful bond issue, the district would build an estimated $32 million elementary school with a projected construction start time in 2029.

Currently, multiple schools in the district are operating at or near full capacity, including Cotteral Elementary (100%), Guthrie High School (95%), Charter Oak (94%), and Central (90%). Construction is ongoing for the district’s second new school building (Cotteral), over the past seven years, allowing an estimated 150 more students (500 total).

To help further alleviate capacity issues, the district plans to add six additional classrooms to Charter Oak ($3,622,000) and four classrooms to the future Cotteral Elementary ($2,270,100). Construction for the two projects would begin in 2025.

“This is continual growth,” Superintendent Dr. Mike Simpson told board members. “We have to develop a plan to be proactive as much as possible.”

Simpson emphasized the need for proactive planning to manage the district’s continual growth, with over 900 homes within Guthrie’s city limits and more than 1,700 in the surrounding area falling within the school district.

“We are trying to develop a plan so that we can address where we are now but also where we are headed,” Simpson added.

Another priority discussed was a facility addition for the wrestling program, which in recent years has seen a spike in athletes along with the addition of a girl’s program.

The standalone building, which would be built off the current wrestling room, would be solely for wrestling practice with two full mats, bathrooms, and a walk space. The current space would be renovated into a boys and girls locker room.

“We simply do not have the facility created to accommodate girls wrestling,” Simpson told school board members about the addition of the girl’s program. “Trying to retrofit in what we have in existing we just don’t have enough square footage.”

The estimated price tag is $1,265,000 for the building. The cost does not include the locker room renovation. Simpson says they would need to look for other funding resources for that aspect of the project.

In addition to addressing capacity issues and the wrestling room, the proposed bond includes funding for essential district-wide needs such as HVAC systems ($1.7M), parking lot needs ($450,000), roofing needs ($450,000), and other prioritized projects ($1.4M).

Historically, passing bond elections has been challenging for the district, with seven consecutive failures between 2005 and 2014. However, recent successes in 2015 and 2019, with 77% and 71.7% voter approval respectively, have enabled the construction of the two elementary schools.

For taxpayers in 2015, the sinking fund millage rate went from zero to a target rate of 15.7 mills. However, with the net asset value (NAV) growth in the district, that millage was not reached. In the 2019 bond, the target rate was 17 mills but in 2022 the sinking fund stood at 15.84.

With the 2024 proposal, the district is targeting a 19 to 20 millage rate over a timeline of seven years ending in 2031.

Despite the proposed increase in millage rates to fund the bond, board member Ron Plagg believes that a higher rate will ultimately save the district money, particularly in expediting the construction of the new elementary school and accompanying facilities.

“I will say this upfront, I’m never in favor of a tax increase but when you look at these numbers and the way the money is provided the bulk of this money to fund this elementary school coming one year sooner is 1.3 million dollars difference than a year later. That basically pays for a wrestling room,” Plagg said.

The school board’s decision on the bond proposal is likely to happen at their next meeting scheduled for May 13 at 6:30 p.m.