Perrysburg: Schools, levy await decisions
2/9/2005The Perrysburg Board of Education is discussing how it should upgrade the district's facilities and whether to place a permanent improvement levy on the November ballot.
But the board still has some big decisions to make before voters see a levy request.
Superintendent Michael Cline said the board is taking several issues into account as it tries to determine the district's funding needs:
●Reports from the facilities and technology committees formed to help create a strategic plan for the district;
●A proposal from the district's athletic boosters to renovate athletic facilities at the high school and junior high;
●A study by a consulting firm that is looking at the district's needs over the next 10 years.
The consulting firm, Planning Advocates Inc. of Delaware, Ohio, is scheduled to present its final report in March. Ron Smith, vice president of the firm, met with the board last week and asked questions about the board's vision for Perrysburg schools.
His main question was what grade configurations the board wants the firm to consider in its recommendations for expanding facilities to accommodate enrollment growth. Mr. Cline said the board has a dozen scenarios for rearranging grade levels. He said it is wrestling with three main issues:
●whether to renovate only the six buildings;
●whether to reopen the Commodore Building as a school;
●whether to build a school on land the district owns along State Rt. 199.
The board wants to narrow its 12 scenarios to several options to present for consideration, Mr. Cline said.
In addition to paying for school building and athletic field renovations, the permanent improvement levy would fund the purchase of technology equipment.
The plan that the school board passed last year calls for new measures that would cost more than $790,000 from the permanent improvement fund. These measures include the purchase of up to three buses to handle increasing enrollment, developing a plan for the creation and maintenance of outdoor facilities, and implementing a comprehensive plan for technology support.
The 1.9-mill permanent improvement levy, passed by voters in March, 2000, expires at the end of the year.
Mr. Cline said the board likely will set special board meetings at its regular meeting Feb. 22 to discuss a new levy.