As the Lakeshore Public School District prepares for a potential bond proposal to make comprehensive upgrades throughout the district, they first sought the input of the community through several public forums.
On Monday, the district’s school board heard heard the results of an online survey that showed mixed feelings from 1,390 potential voters.
Consultants Bryn Bogemann and Gary Goscenski, of Perspectives Consulting, presented the survey’s findings to the board.
Prior to filling out the survey, the respondents were presented with four potential bond proposals. The topics included priority school needs, energy efficiency and educational program enhancements.
Option 1
The first proposal is just for priority needs, which would include completing the roof replacements, maintaining building walls and windows, replacing aging heating and cooling, updating electrical and alarm systems, bringing facilities into compliance with modern building codes and the Americans with Disabilities Act, paving parking areas, and technology infrastructure.
This option is projected to cost $19.9 million, or $60 a year for a property with a taxable value of $100,000.
For option 1, 73.8% of respondents felt the plan was acceptable, while 9.1% did not find the plan acceptable; 67.7% indicated that they would vote to approve option 1, and 17.9% said they would not approve option 1.
Option 2
The second proposal included priority needs, as well as energy efficiency and modernization items such as updating lighting and controls to save energy, updating lockers, updating flooring and cabinets, new classroom furniture, technology upgrades, and buses.
This option would cost $39 million, or $150 per year on property with a taxable value of $100,000.
For Option 2, 63.4% felt the plan was acceptable, while 15.5% of respondents did not find the
plan acceptable; 50.8% indicated that they would vote to approve option 2,and 27.3% said they would not approve option 2.
Option 3
The third proposal included priority needs as well as educational enhancements such as updating student technology, expanding cafeteria space at all three elementary schools, adding a new band classroom, practice rooms, and storage at the middle school, and adding a CAD classroom, robotics arena, and tennis courts to the high school.
This option would cost $46.5 million, or $185 per year for property owners with taxable value of $100,000.
For Option 3, 54.8% found the plan acceptable 20.5% did not; 44.6% indicated that they would vote to
approve option 3, and 32.2% said they would not approve option 3.
Option 4
The final proposal would combine all of the first three proposals for a total of $65.7 million – a $273 increase in property taxes annually to property with a taxable value of $100,000.
50.5% felt the plan was acceptable, 21.9% did not find the plan acceptable; 37.6% indicated that they would vote to approve option 4, while nearly the same number of respondents 37.4% said they would not approve option 4.
‘A Path Forward’
After the presentation, board trustee Kevin Bushu thanked the consultants and the community.
“This is a tremendous amount of insight and feedback from the community that we may not have completely had in prior bond issues,” Bushu said. So from that standpoint, this is very, very helpful.”
Superintendent Greg Eding also offered his thoughts.
“The board and administrative team needs to come together and kind of make some decisions as to what we want to do with the feedback that we received,” he said. “I do think the information that that was provided through the survey definitely gives us a path forward. … I think there’s just a question of what that path is.”
The full survey results can be found here.
