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Potential partners parted

Local school officials considered joint use of facilities with Cowley

By FOSS FARRAR
Staff Writer

At one time Arkansas City Schools considered partnering with Cowley College to share some facilities, especially for sports. Those talks broke down quickly last year, officials at both schools said Friday.

"We had joint discussions and they told us they needed to talk to their building teams," Cowley College President Pat McAtee said. "We're still interested in talking to them."

McAtee said the main advantage he sees in building a new stadium that would be shared by Arkansas City High School and college is "less taxpayer money" involvement.

One main issue is a football field. Public school officials feel restoring Curry Field would be too expensive and they feel a facility closer to the high school would better serve students. State aid is also more readily available if the school owns the whole facility or if it is connected to the school.

Local school district this week decided to build a new sports complex adjacent to the high school on Radio Lane, funded by bond money should voters approve a multi-million bond issue.

The Arkansas City Board of Education on Monday night gave the go-ahead on a preliminary, $36 million school facilities building plan funded through a proposed bond election in November.

Of that amount, an estimated $5.3 million would be needed to build a stadium west of the high school. An option of partnering with the college for a project that would cost an estimated $4.2 million was set aside because it would not draw state aid for bond payments.

Whether the local school district will follow up on last year's talks with Cowley seems doubtful, at least for now, a source at the school district said.

But school board president Joe Woodard said Friday he would raise the issue again with USD 470 Superintendent Ron Ballard.

Woodard said he was present at the meeting last year with Ballard and fellow school board member Mike Walker. They met with McAtee and Cowley College trustee Mark Paton.

"We were there to explore our options on building a football field, but at that time (the college) owned the property," Woodard said.

The shared facility would be next to the Cowley College track facility east of the City Ball Park. It would include a football field that would replace historic Curry Field.

Renovating Curry Field would cost an estimated $6.3 million and also would not draw state aid for bond payments, the architect working for the school district on the school facilities plan said. The board also has set aside that option.

Two reasons that school board members interviewed this week gave for favoring an athletics complex on the Ark City High campus over one next to the college's track facility:

* State aid for paying off a bond issue would not be available for property not owned by USD 470, including the proposed field site near the Cowley track. But the district could get state aid for up to 50 percent of the money needed to pay off the bonds if the new complex were built adjacent to the high school -- land owned by the district.

* Having athletics facilities on the south end of town would present an inconvenience to students, coaches and staff who would have to commute from the high school on the north end of town. It could present safety issues.

Ballard said at Monday night's school board meeting that a property change would be needed to get state funding for a joint building project with Cowley College.

The subject of property ownership was raised in talks between the college and local school district last year, McAtee said. But the talks didn't go far in addressing that issue or other details.

McAtee said he anticipated another meeting with school board officials. But, a year later, no meeting has occurred.

"We need to respond back to (the college) or at least have a meeting set up," Woodard said.

The property issue is the biggest obstacle to doing a joint facilities project with Cowley, said Woodard and other school board members. The state doesn't provide aid to schools on voter-approved bond issues for construction, if it is on property not owned by the school district.

But Ballard noted in Monday's meeting that with an ownership change the district could get aid on a joint project with Cowley.

An official with the Kansas Department of Education confirmed Friday that school district ownership is necessary for state aid on voter-approved bond issues.

"If they partner with somebody they only get aid on that portion (of the property) that the school district owns," said Dale Dennis, deputy commissioner of the state department of education.

But other funding methods besides bond issues could be used to build facilities, Dennis acknowledged. Other Kansas towns have built facilities that are shared among different entities in the community.

Cowley College trustee Mark Paton noted that joint ventures between local school districts and community colleges have been successful in Hutchinson and Coffeyville.

McAtee said he remains open to having further discussions with the Ark City school district on cooperative agreements between the college and high school on the use of athletic facilities.

"We didn't get far enough down the road," he said.