News
Statement from Board of Education President Dominic Cafarelli
Oct. 26, 2010
For the past two years, the Board of Education has been discussing Phase II of the Mohonasen long range facilities plan -- which was to follow the completion of the EXCEL project that voters approved in 2007.
As you may recall, the EXCEL project
primarily addressed infrastructure items such as plumbing, heating
systems, accessibility, etc. When planning Phase II, we wanted to
address our programs – to keep our district moving forward and
provide our kids with the competitive edge they all need in today’s
world.
We had considered holding a vote as early as last fall, but found
that we had to delay in order to secure a piece of property adjacent
to the middle school/high school campus. While waiting, budget
discussions at the state level worsened and this past summer – when
the state budget was finally approved -- we learned that the 95
percent state building aid that Mohonasen had received for years,
would no longer be available. Instead of the 95 percent aid –
Mohonasen is now eligible to receive approximately 80.4 percent on
approved capital construction projects.
Since the summer, members of the board and administration have been talking with legislative and congressional representatives to ask that the 95 percent aid be reinstated.
In addition, we have been reviewing the scope of the Phase II construction plans and have shaved nearly 20 million dollars off the final scope – leaving only the items that we feel are critical to the future of our district.
We debated whether we should break the project into separate propositions or even if we should have one part of the plan contingent on the approval of another. We also considered tabling the plans until a later time – or whether to do a referendum at all.
In the end, we feel a responsibility to our students and feel we must move forward with the entire scope of the project.
We are concerned that building aid may once again be reduced and this may be our last opportunity to make these programmatic changes that will afford our students the cutting-edge opportunities that will help them to succeed once they leave our district. As a board, we believe that we have an obligation to our students – and to our community – to provide the best academic programs we can. The improvements outlined in this project will allow us to “up our game” and bring world-class programs to the students of Mohonasen.
At this point, we think it is important to give our community an opportunity to voice its opinion on this project – and the future of our district.
In addition, we feel we have an obligation to do some type of project that will allow the district to receive building aid on the land that was purchased using funds from the district’s capital reserve.
In the meantime, we will continue speaking with our representatives to lobby for the reinstatement of the 95 percent building aid. We will also be looking for ways to offset the local share of this project -- such as selling buildings currently owned by the district.
With that said, the resolution that will be voted on this evening is for the full scope of the project with a vote date of December 13, 2010. The Board will begin scheduling presentations for the community within the next week.
