A major topic of improvement is renovating the elementary school. I haven’t heard any argument to the contrary. I wanted to give a brief overview of the construction process – hitting the highlights and leaving out the details.  It all begins with the facility plan that is generated from the Local Planning Committee assisted by an architect. This plan is approved by the local and state boards of education. Construction projects must be on that plan.

The plan to renovate the elementary includes adding a cafeteria. The cost is estimated at 6.7 million dollars. The first big hurdle is finding 6.7 million or at least enough to begin the process in stages. School districts have basically three pots of money dedicated to construction – FSPK, Capital Outlay, SFCC. These funds are currently obligated to pay for prior projects such as the gym/commons area and middle/high school renovations.

While efforts are made to have the elementary include in the urgent needs funding, we need to seek alternative revenue.

The other alternative is to review options to generate more funding. One option is the recallable nickel tax. A disclaimer, tax rates were set back in September and are finished for this year. For a person with a property assessed at $50,000 this tax would cost them about $33. While this wouldn’t be enough to renovate the elementary it would generate a little over a million dollars in bonding potential. Visit http://kshoulders2008.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/tax-poll/ to learn more and express your opinion of the “recallable nickel”.

Why consider a tax? It shows first and foremost that the community is truly willing to support school building improvements. Second question is how do we compare to others in paying school tax? Using information from the KDE website, we rank in the lowest 25 for equivalent taxes. The chart shows the school tax rates for surrounding districts.
Based on this year's rate the following table provides the tax cost for a home or property with the assessed values:
Assessed Value      Tax
$10,000                $6.60
$20,000              $13.20
$30,000              $19.80
$40,000              $26.40
$50,000              $33.00
$60,000              $39.60
$70,000              $46.20
$80,000              $52.80
$90,000              $59.40
$100,000            $66.00
$150,000            $99.00
$200,000          $132.00

The man responsible for building this groundswell of support was former Superintendent Danny Brown. As Senator Winters once told me the first call he received following his election was from Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown gained Senator Winters and Representative Rudy’s support for the need of facility improvements as well as KDE officials. Rudy and Winters were instrumental in securing funding for the athletic complex. I think he would be proud of the continued efforts and recognition of the need by the local school community including school board members, parents, employees, and elected officials.

While funding is still being sought, it is appropriate to remember the leadership that Danny Brown provided Carlisle County Schools in facility improvements.

There are no problems, only opportunities. Danny D. Brown, 1949-2009