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Board sets bond at $14M

by Heidi Desch / Whitefish Pilot
| January 18, 2012 1:06 PM

The Whitefish School Board is asking

voters to help fund a major renovation of the high school.

The board Jan. 10 voted 6-1 to hold a

$14 million bond election to fund the project. Trustee Charlie

Abell was the sole dissenting vote. The mail-in ballot election is

set for March 15.

The school district is planning a $19

million upgrade of the school. Whitefish City Council recently

committed $2.5 million to the project, while other grants and

private donations have been secured toward the total cost.

The rest of the financing is set to

come from the bond. If approved, the bond election would result in

a roughly $40 increase per year on a home valued at $200,000.

Abell said he favors completing

much-needed maintenance rather than a complete remodel of the

school. He suggested that a quality education is not based on the

building.

“I can remember the great teachers I

had, but not the room I was in,” he said. “It’s the character and

people that occupy (the building) that make our school.”

He cited the University of Oxford as a

place that provides a superior education inside buildings hundreds

of years old.

“We can do what we need to do and we

can do it for less than that,” he said referring to the $14

million. “Don’t be part of the throw away society.”

Trustee Ruth Harrison said the bond

election is a way for the community to decide if it wants to

participate, alongside students and staff, in striving for

excellence in education.

“We need to give the opportunity to

participate in that culture,” she said. “We, as a board, need to

allow the community to have a say whether or not they want to

participate.”

The school district is proposing to

renovate 40 percent of the existing school and replace the

remaining area with a new structure. New features in the two-story

120,000-square-foot building include a mix of classroom sizes and

large learning spaces, a large assembly hall, modern library and a

dining area.

During public comment before the vote,

Bruce Tate asked the board to reconsider the bond election. Tate’s

father, Ralph, was a principal in the Whitefish school system from

the 1930s to the 1950s.

Despite a family commitment to

education, Tate said the bond would be unfair to the taxpayer

because even a small increase has an impact. More donated money

should be committed to the project before asking for a bond

election, he noted.

“It’s a large amount of money to a lot

of people — those on a fixed income or those who are unemployed,”

Tate said. “Show the taxpayer you can be good stewards of their

money.”

Trustee Dave Fern said he “basically”

agreed with Tate, but pointed out there has been a strong effort to

secure private donations.

“A lot of donors want to give above and

beyond that $14 million bond,” Fern said.

The district plans to seek an

additional $500,000 in donations to complete the proposed

performance and assembly hall. Discussions have also included

soliciting funds for extra improvements to the gym.

City council recently committed $2.5

million in tax increment funds to the project. That money combined

with other donations has allowed the district to raise $4.5 million

toward the upgrade, and lower the bond request to $14 million.

Two past high school bond elections in

Whitefish have failed. The most recent in 2008 was for $21.5

million.

According to the school district, the

high school has become outdated based on today’s teaching styles

and is deteriorating.

On Jan. 11 the school board approved

establishing an agency with the Whitefish Community Foundation as

part of the high school renovation. This allows the foundation to

take donations for the project on behalf of the school

district.

Election ballots will be mailed to

voters on Feb. 28 and are due back to the district office by March

15.

Plans for the high school renovation

may be viewed online at www.whitefishhighschoolfuture.com.