Web posted
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Bond issue draws fire from critics
By JAMES JORDAN
Traveler Editor
news@arkcity.net
While there has not been much organized opposition to the school referendum, there are some with reservations about the $37 million bond issue to refurbish local schools.
One of those is former superintendent Jean Snell, who served in that office for nine years. He was in office in 1995 when a similar bond issue was passed by Arkansas City residents. That bond issue is still in effect, but is getting closer to its pay off each year.
School officials said Tuesday that the bonding company would give several scenarios as to what it might do with the remaining portion of that bond.
The board would decide that at a later time, Assistant Superintendent J.K. Campbell said.
One of Snell's concerns is the number of people included in the formation of the plan. He feels getting input from more people might have made for a more feasible plan to improve schools.
Snell is bothered by the plan to rebuild IXL school, which is located south of town. He noted that 170 students are transported daily to and from the school, and of those, 150 live north of the Arkansas River.
He believes it would make more sense to build an elementary school on Madison Avenue, which would put it closer to where the students live.
"You could buy land there cheap, and that would help with community development," he said.
He would like to see all of the elementary schools brought back into town, which would include C-4 Elementary School, which is a few miles out of town.
He also questions the athletic facility proposal that calls for a new football stadium to be built near the high school.
"It includes an all-weather track. Why do we need three of those tracks in Arkansas City?" he asked.
School officials have said the current facility, Curry FIeld, forces too much transportation. Snell responds to that by pointing out that school officials don't have a problem with transporting kids to IXL.
He believes the plan has not been thought through enough, and does not take into consideration future needs, such as the need for a school on or near Madison Avenue.
He is also concerned about the overlapping of bond issues. The bond issue passed in 1995 has not yet been paid off.
According to John Sturd, chairman of the citizen's committee promoting the bond issue, a committee of 30 people helped put together the proposal, which was based on input from the public as well as from staff within the school system.
He said the idea of building a new school was discussed, but they determined that it would be too expensive.
"Building a new school would have cost $14 million or $ 15 million," he said, adding that rebuilding the IXL school would cost much less than that.
Sturd has done several presentations on the bond issue over the past several weeks, and said the response has been largely positive.
One main concern opponents have is paying more taxes.
"I don't want my taxes to go up either, but when you look at the benefits and the costs, it is good," he said. The state is paying half of the total cost.
Ballots were mailed last week and are due by March 4.
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