Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the area next to Westside Community Church where Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation is considering building a 12th elementary in Columbus, Ind., pictured on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023.
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is working on a proposal for a capital referendum to potentially fund a number of facilities projects — including the construction of a new elementary school on the west side.
BCSC officials presented these concepts to school board members at a strategic planning session Monday night.
“We have a lot of buildings that need some kind of tender, loving care over the next few years and are trying to approach that in the most effective and efficient way possible,” said Superintendent Jim Roberts.
More information about the proposal can be accessed by going to bcscschools.org and clicking on “2024 BCSC Capital Projects Website.”
The site includes a presentation that was shared with board members, a frequently asked questions document and information about the renovations being done at Parkside Elementary. There is also a form for community members to submit questions and request a meeting with BCSC representatives to learn more.
Moving forward, BCSC officials plan to seek community input on the proposal before bringing a final recommendation to the board in October. If the school board gives its approval, BCSC would look to have the capital referendum on the ballot in 2024, with Assistant Superintendent of Financial Services Chad Phillips saying that the school corporation would likely plan to have the question on the ballot for the May primary.
The decisions that the school board makes over the next few months will set a trajectory for the district over the next decade, he added.
Possible projects and costs
“We have a dollar amount range,” said Phillips, in regards to projects that might be funded through the referendum. “Somewhere — it changes every seven minutes, it seems like — but somewhere in the neighborhood of between $250 million and somewhere just north of $300 million. And again, those are based on very rough estimates from CSO (Architects).”
Due to debt that will be rolling off from BCSC in the next few years, the tax rate would remain relatively flat if the referendum were passed, he said.
BCSC’s presentation to the board included a list of possible projects that might be funded through the referendum, along with estimated costs and start dates. The list was as follows:
- New west-side elementary school — $60 million, 2024
- Renovations to remaining elementary schools — $114 million, 2024-2028
- Significant renovation at Northside Middle School and tech/equipment updates at Central Middle School — $53 million, 2025
- Additions and renovations to both Columbus North and East high schools to meet career and tech education demands — $14 million, 2027
- PE/athletics expansions at the two high schools to meet demands — $62 million, 2027
- A “to be determined” project involving program and facility work at the McDowell Education Center and the R. L. Johnson Building — $3 million, 2024 and 2026
Altogether, the list totals $306 million, and Phillips said that the school corporation can get close to this amount without raising the tax rate.
He emphasized that the above list represents “ideas, not plans.”
“Over the next three months, all of these numbers will change and modify as we identify new needs, we work with the public to prioritize our needs and get feedback from the public,” he said. “So this is what we said we were going to bring you when we met with you in March and you asked us, ‘Bring us everything. If we’re going to do a referendum, if we choose to move that direction, then we should be able to make a decision about the scale and scope of what we want to include in that referendum and what we don’t.’”
A growing west side
The proposed site for the potential new elementary school — which would be the 12th in the district — is a 23-acre parcel just south of Westside Community Church and west of Tipton Lakes Boulevard that the school corporation acquired about a decade ago.
A major factor in the proposal is the results of a recent demographics study.
“It wasn’t shocking, but it was still surprising to see it on paper that, essentially, if things continue based on prior trends, the only development that’s going to happen with demographic growth is to the west and to the south of town,” said Phillips. “There were two townships that were projected to have all the growth. So we said to ourselves, ‘OK, that land is still sitting on the west side, do we need to revisit that?’”
Another piece of the conversation is Columbus Regional Health’s proposed master plan for its own 690 acres of westside property. The site, also known as the Garden City Farms property, stretches east-to-west from Interstate 65 almost to State Road 11/Jonesville Road, and is south of the westside Walmart and north of the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds and Southside Elementary.
A long-term vision for the property was created in collaboration with the city of Columbus and other local stakeholders, along with Design Workshop, and the city is considering adopting the vision as an element of its Comprehensive Plan.
In addition to an approximately 100-acre CRH campus, the proposal includes a variety of residential neighborhoods.
As the school corporation started having conversations about whether to build a new school on the west side, they were contacted by CRH and were able to be involved in conversations about the hospital’s proposal, BCSC officials said.
“We said, ‘OK, it’s time to take action now if we want to truly be planning for the future and helping set up the district to be proactive,’” said Phillips “…We can’t wait until they develop that and decide to start building a school.”
The school corporation estimates that around 438 kids in grades Pre-K to 6 might live in the residential components of the proposed plan, said Director of Operations Brett Boezeman.
However, he said the school corporation has been having conversations about facility needs for about four years and are not just reacting to CRH’s plan. For instance, the demographics study, which was created without the information from CRH’s plan, showed issues with increasing capacity at Southside.
“We have a problem there regardless of what happens with the Garden City Farms property,” he said.
Boezeman added that the school corporation also needs to update its buildings — which were mostly built in the 1950s and ’60s — to “reflect 21st century learning environments” and address facility limitations that are keeping the school corporation from meeting certain academic needs and demands, especially at the high school level.
Referendum type
In discussing facility needs, Phillips said that the school corporation has a “unique opportunity” to invest in its buildings without raising the tax rate due to significant debt that will roll off over the next few years.
School officials discussed the possibility of seeking a referendum to fund facility improvements at a previous planning session. While BCSC might consider this funding method even if they weren’t looking at a new school, a referendum is required to create the new school, Phillips said.
Given that requirement, if the board agrees that a new elementary school is needed, BCSC officials would also propose including other potential capital projects in the referendum request, he said.
If BCSC decides to seek a referendum for its facilities projects, this would be a capital or “controlled project” referendum, as opposed to an operating referendum — which is what local voters approved in June of 2020.
At the time, 61.33% of voters answered “yes” to a ballot question that asked if they would be willing for BCSC to impose an additional property tax rate not exceeding $0.1560 on each $100 of assessed value “for the purpose of increasing compensation for teachers and support staff and maintaining student safety.”
The school corporation also used funds from the referendum to help support turning elementary STEM labs into specials rotations with certified teachers. The referendum lasts for a total of eight years, and officials have said in the past that the community would likely vote on its renewal in 2028.
BCSC previously completed a successful capital referendum on about $89 million in renovations to Columbus East and North high schools, with 68% of voters answering “yes” to the following question in 2008: “Shall Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. issue bonds or enter into a lease to finance additions to and renovations of Columbus North High School and Columbus East High School?”
At the time, it was estimated that the projects would raise the tax rate 7 cents per $100 of assessed value, starting in 2012.
Impact on tax bills
“The tax question is one that is — it’s more complex than last time because a referendum, a capital referendum is outside of the tax caps,” said Phillips. “And so while the overall rate will not change within reason, it’ll stay relatively flat like it has for years, if you’re already at the tax caps, then you could see a moderate, a mild to moderate increase on your tax bill.”
According to Phillips, there are approximately 22,000 parcels in BCSC’s portion of the county that are not at the property tax caps and about 12,000 parcels that are. Most properties that are already at tax caps are in Columbus rather than the county, he added.
As stated in BCSC’s FAQ document, the 12,000 parcels at tax caps may see an increase on their tax bills.
“The amount of any increase will depend on the final scope of the project that will be developed between August and October 2023,” school officials said.
After the school board makes a final decision on the scale of the projects, a property tax calculator will be made available to the public.
Phillips said it’s estimated that for a home with a gross assessed value of $200,000, the referendum would cause an increase of about $8 per month on their tax bill if BCSC only focuses on building the new elementary school and renovating existing elementary schools.
If the school corporation includes the full list of facility needs in the referendum, the estimated increase would range from $8 to $14 per month. The impact would vary over time as the school corporation replaces old, non-exempt debt service with new, exempt debt service.
Phillips added that these estimates are subject to change as officials receive new information about assessed value.
Benefits of a capital referendum include its ability to capture assessed value from Tax Increment Financing districts, which means that homeowners pay less, he said. Additionally, it would reduce tax cap losses for all taxing units and not just BCSC, and school officials also foresee lower costs of issuance for bonds and hope to see savings from doing multiple projects at once.
Looking to the future
If the board agreed to the referendum and it was approved by voters, the school corporation’s first priority would likely be to begin construction of the new elementary school and then start renovations to schools that serve children on the west side, said Boezeman.
Phillips added that the planning process started with officials looking at the learning environments in elementary schools, with Parkside Elementary being the first school to see renovations.
“It’s not a referendum about a 12th elementary for the kids on the west side of town,” he said. “This is to bring — every Pre-K through sixth grade student at the elementary level will have the same, high quality learning environment that we’re developing in Parkside.”
“Doing nothing is not really a choice,” said Boezeman.
If the school board is not in favor of the new school, the likely alternative would be to add on to some of its existing elementary school buildings. However, Boezeman said school officials have not looked into this idea as closely because it presents certain disadvantages.
“Every time we look at it, it’s more expensive,” he said. “It doesn’t get the learning outcomes in our classrooms and our schools that we seek. And every time we come back around to it, it’s just not best for families and for kids or the community.”
School officials said other potential downsides include having to bus students to schools that are farther away from home and redistrict students more than once.
What’s next
Moving forward, the board has another strategic planning session set for Oct. 20, said Phillips.
“Our next step … between now and then is to meet with every public group, every community group, every book club in town, share with them what we think our needs are, what the cost is, and get their feedback,” he said. “Prioritize. ‘What is your appetite for? What is the impact on your taxes? What does that look like?’ And then come back to the board on the 20th with a final recommendation, in October, to say, ‘We’ve met with this many people and this many groups, we shared with them everything, and here is our final proposal.’”
Following the Oct. 20 meeting, school board members would be expected to make a decision about whether to pursue a capital referendum — and at what scale — sometime around October to December, BCSC officials said.
