School District Is Asking The Public To Weigh In
By Eric Valentine
Efforts to focus spending taxpayer money on students in the classroom rather than subsidizing school district assets is raising questions about how much longer Blaine County School District can operate its Community Campus.
The district held a town hall session last night to hear from residents and—the district says—it has been hearing from multiple stakeholders since September 2017 when the school board began reviewing district property that was not being used for school purposes and determining if savings could be found. Some of these properties have been sold. Others are being reviewed for repurposing to better meet district needs. Enter: so-called non-school buildings like the Community Campus now being reviewed for possible cost savings.
“The Board of Trustees’ two main goals are to balance the budget and close the achievement gap. Blaine County School District staff continue to work relentlessly to ensure that all students have the same opportunities to succeed and they do this with less resources than in the past,” Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes wrote in a letter to the public.
According to Holmes, the trustees and the administration have heard from many stakeholders that the district should maintain two key priorities:
Providing a robust and wide-ranging educational program
Maintaining small class sizes
But state funding alone does not provide enough funding to meet those expectations, so the district must rely on local funding.
The district is now asking its trustees, with the help of Community Campus tenants and the public at large, to provide guidance on how to proceed with the use of the non-school buildings. Options include, but are not limited to:
Maintain the status quo and continue to subsidize the operation of the Community Campus
Notify tenants that leases for the Community Campus will be renegotiated within the next year to reduce the need for the district to subsidize this space
Make plans for moving the technology office to the Community Campus in currently unused or minimally used spaces and then sell the current building and land
Make plans for moving the offices at the district office to the Community Campus in currently unused or minimally used spaces and then sell the current building and land
Due to the proximity of the Community Campus to Wood River High School and Silver Creek High School, it would be difficult to relinquish ownership of the Community Campus while maintaining the safety of our students, Holmes noted.
“We have had many, many conversations and meetings with our tenants at the Community Campus. Now it’s time to also hear from additional stakeholders. This item is for discussion only and no action will be taken,” Holmes wrote in her letter.
If you have questions or concerns over the matter, you are encouraged to contact the district by email at amandalachance@blaineschools.org.