Van Vleck ISDvoters to Decide on New High School and Refurbishments: $21.8 Million in Bonds Would Raise Tax Rate By 7 Cents

By Ross Cunningham, Victoria Advocate, Texas

Apr. 19–On May 12, the Van Vleck Independent School District will have a bond election that, if passed, will allow the district to build a new high school and to refurbish other schools in the district. If voters approve the $21.8 million bond, district officials estimate the tax rate would be set at $1.35 per $100 of property value, or about 7 cents higher than the current tax rate. LEPS SAYS VOTE NO Citizens in the school district who are against the bond issue have organized under the name Let’s Explore Positive Solutions. The group is asking for a smaller bond that would renovate existing facilities, add classroom space where it’s needed and, if growth becomes certain, then ask for a bond that matches the growth.

“The only thing that I asked at the school board meeting the night that they voted to have a bond election for a new high school was, ‘How are we going to pay for it?’” said Mike Pruett, former Matagorda County commissioner of Precinct 1. “We don’t have the population to support a new tax rate for a new high school. We want to renovate our schools, have excellent teachers and outstanding programs for our students. This bond is too big and is not the answer.”

With interest, the VVISD taxpayers will pay more than $43 million dollars, according to a handout from LEPS members.

The handout said the district is building a high school for more than 500 students, while future attendance projections predict only 300 students. The pamphlet said the bond is not based on reasonable growth planning but on optimistic speculation.

If the bond is defeated, Texas law requires the VVISD tax rate to be reduced this fall from $1.28 to $1.04 per $100 valuation — a 23 percent reduction in taxes, the pamphlet says.

LEPS also is concerned because a new, 72,000-square-foot high school will require higher operating costs not included in the bond. To pay for those higher costs, either existing items will be cut or tax revenue will have to increase.

Ray Horton, a member of the Van Vleck school board in the 1970s and 1980s, said, “The administration is saying that it would not be cost effective to renovate E. Rudd Intermediate,” said Horton. “We had an architect evaluate E. Rudd while I was on the school board in the early 1980s and the report that came back to us said that the building was the soundest building on the entire campus. We lowered the ceilings, put carpet on the floor and air-conditioned the rooms. There is nothing wrong with E. Rudd structure that can’t be corrected.”

Horton said that the administration proposes to abandon the school with undetermined plans.

Pruett said that he thinks the decision to build a new high school is a hasty one. “The new high school is a utility-eating monster with all that glass,” he said. “It basically has all the classrooms upstairs. You lose 20 percent or better of your teaching room. We need a school built on the ground. A two-story building is the most unsafe building you could build.” Citizens for Education say vote yes

Van Vleck Superintendent Juan Jasso says the recommendations for a new high school and renovations to other school buildings on were based on a three- to five-year study with the participation of engineers, architects, financial advisors, Region IV facility consultants and input from community and teachers.

“The proposed construction project is designed to meet the academic requirements of the current school population and we’re also taking advantage of the fact, while were looking at this construction project, we want to address functional issues with the buildings. We have been told by two separate agencies that investing in E. Rudd is not a cost-effective move for our district. We were told by Region IV consultants and our architect, Dale Rabe, that any time a building is going to cost you 50 percent of a new building to remodel, to basically go with the new building.”

Jasso said E. Rudd will not be abandoned but will become the new administrative building and meeting building.

“If you kept E. Rudd as the intermediate school, you would have to do a series of additions to all the other school buildings in the district, and the building committees and school board looked at this,” Rabe said. “The series of additions would cost more in utilities, plus E. Rudd is highly inefficient in utility cost. The other problem that the building committee noticed — you would have construction taking place on every campus while you’re trying to have school.”

According to Van Vleck Citizens for Education members’ pamphlet, under the board’s recommended scenario III, E. Rudd Intermediate school could be converted into an administration building, investing local funds to upgrade as funds permit for the administration staff to occupy.

Moving 132 students currently at E. Rudd to O.H. Middle School, which houses 223 students, would allow for student growth and would provide students access to their own library, technology labs, art and music room. It would also provide an adequate science lab to meet the new science TAKS requirement for fifth grade and would alleviate the problem of dropoff and pickup from a traffic -congested elementary area, according to the group’s pamphlet.

The plan would also move 223 middle school students to the high school to allow for growth at the middle school. This change would provide students with upgrades in equipment and facilities in science, technology and student services.

Under scenario III, the Vocational Ag building would be remodeled into a P.E. complex. Under this plan, no student would need to cross the highway on a daily basis to participate in athletic or academic activities. The new high school would be built on 24.91 acres of property north of the football field. The board recommended scenario III because it solves all the functional problems that were identified during a facilities committee study.

Van Vleck Citizens for Education will have a public meeting on at 6:30 p.m. May 8 in the administration building. Ross Cunningham is a reporter for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 979-244-1330 or rcunningham@vicad.com, or comment on this story here.

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, Victoria Advocate, Texas

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.