Five Clark-Pleasant school buildings are set to get $5 million in needed repairs and maintenance in the coming months.
The work, which includes new flooring and wall coverings, upgrades and repairs to heating and air conditioning systems and parking lot and roof work, is planned to mainly be done when students are out of school, said Jay Staley, Clark-Pleasant director of business.
The projects are being paid for with a loan the school district is borrowing. In past years, schools were limited to borrowing $2 million, but that limit was raised to $5 million this year, and officials wanted to do more projects at once, he said. By borrowing more money at once, the school district saves on fees and other costs with taking out one loan, instead of multiple loans in future years, he said.
Taxes are not expected to go up to pay back the loan, which is replacing other debt for past projects that are now paid off, Staley said.
The projects are all needed maintenance work that has been put off in past years, he said. Part of the issue has been that the school district’s capital projects fund, which pays for building maintenance and repairs, has been shorted in an attempt to help make up for losses to property tax caps, he said. Those caps limit how much taxpayers pay in their property taxes, based on their property value.
Those caps apply to only certain funds that collect money from property taxes, including debt, transportation and school maintenance projects. The capital projects fund is usually the one that takes the most loss, since those other funds have to be prioritized, Staley said.
An assessment of the school district’s buildings showed multiple needed projects, and that some of the buildings hadn’t been touched in 15 years, Staley said.
The projects include replacing flooring at all five schools, Grassy Creek, Clark, Whiteland and Break-O-Day elementary schools, along with Whiteland Community High School, and work to the building systems, which could include plumbing or heating and air conditioning systems, Staley said. Wall coverings will also be replaced at Break-O-Day, Grassy Creek and Whiteland elementary schools. And roof work will be done at the high school.
The loan will give the school district a boost, allowing it to get caught up on needed projects, Staley said.
Much of the work will be done during the summer, when students are out of school, but some projects may need to also be done during fall break, Staley said.
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Here is a look at the list of maintenance projects planned at Clark-Pleasant schools:
Break-O-Day Elementary school
- Flooring
- Wall covering
- Exterior
- Building systems
Clark Elementary School
- Exterior
- Building systems
- Flooring
Grassy Creek Elementary School
- Flooring
- Wall covering
- Building systems
Whiteland Elementary School
- Flooring
- Wall covering
- Building systems
Whiteland Community High School
- Flooring
- Building systems
- Roof
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