Somers ballots in the mail

To build or not to build?

In three weeks, Somers School District will know the answer.

The district is requesting $7.125 million in bonds to construct a new building on the middle-school campus. The new facility would become Somers Middle School for sixth- through eighth-grade students. The existing building would house students in grades four and five.

The move would free up six classrooms at Lakeside Elementary School, which has experienced significant enrollment growth in recent years.

If approved, the 20-year bonds would increase annual property taxes by about $164 on a home with a taxable market value of $150,000. Taxes on a home with taxable market value of $250,000 would increase by about $273 each year.

On Tuesday, the district mailed ballots to all registered voters. Ballots are due at the district office by 8 p.m. Nov. 13. Polls will not be open that day; voters must use mail-in ballots.

In a typical bond election, Montana law requires a simple majority of approval if voter turnout is at least 40 percent. Passing a bond with 30 percent to 39 percent turnout requires a 60 percent majority. If turnout is less than 30 percent, the election automatically is rejected.

Elections by mail, however, have no minimum turnout requirements, and therefore are commonly used in school bond elections.

School board trustees made the bond request after working with a facilities planning committee for nine months. The committee, made up of community members, staff and school facilities architect and consultant Paul Bishop, examined enrollment trends and options for dealing with the growth.

This fall, enrollment is 12 percent higher than it was a decade ago - 35 percent higher than it was 15 years ago. Last year, enrollment swelled by 65 students. This year, to administrators' relief, numbers are down slightly.

After studying enrollment data, the planning committee was "convinced that this enrollment growth was not just a bubble," Superintendent Teri Wing said. "It wasn't just a fluke."

Over the next 10 years, the "fairly modest" estimate is an enrollment gain of 60 to 65 students, she added. That figure doesn't include two major subdivisions in the works within the school district, which would add upwards of 660 homes if approved.

Two developers have volunteered to pay impact fees, Wing said. They've signed contracts totaling $450,000.

That money likely wouldn't be available during the actual construction process, she said, but if the bond passes, the district may put the developers' money toward site improvements.

Most of the district's recent growth has taken place in the lower grades. For the last several years, Lakeside Elementary has had three classrooms per grade. This fall, the school has four kindergarten sections, five first grades and four third grades.

To accommodate all those students, the school has converted an art room and Title I tutoring rooms into regular classrooms. Title I programs now take place in a former copy room and out-of-the-way hallway.

Two special education classes are taught in one room. Two physical education classes take place concurrently in the gym.

This year, because of the enrollment increases, Somers and Lakeside schools didn't accept new out-of-district students. Students from other districts appreciate Somers' small class sizes, Wing said, but the district's first responsibility was to its own students.

"We essentially said, we have to stop" out-of-district enrollment, she said. "We had to slow that down a bit."

State accreditation standards limit early elementary classes to 20 students. With no more rooms available, third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms may be used to accommodate younger students if the bond issue fails.

That means instead of three classrooms for each grade, students in grades three through five would have to make do with two rooms each, which would increase class sizes considerably.

There is no room for expansion at Lakeside, Wing said. Adding a second story to the building would be too expensive, and there is no room for a first-floor addition.

"It was pretty clear we would cause severe problems for Lakeside by cutting into the playground space any more," she said.

The building itself is only 10 years old. Taxpayers will finish paying for that $2.5 million bond in 2012.

While Lakeside Elementary is feeling the crunch now, it's just a matter of time before the enrollment bubble arrives at Somers Middle School. The first large class will reach the middle school in three years, and right now there isn't room for all those students, Wing said.

Accreditation standards limit middle school classrooms to 30 students, but even meeting those standards is difficult in the existing facility, she said.

"This building was not constructed with 30 kids in mind," she said.

Classrooms are at or near capacity and there are no unused rooms in the building. Without an expanded campus, students will be crowded into classrooms when the large elementary classes reach the middle school.

If the bond request passes, however, construction would be finished by fall 2010 - the year the first large class arrives at the middle school.

The new, 32,300-square-foot facility would include 12 to 16 classrooms, depending on construction costs, and a competition-sized gymnasium. The district would purchase land adjacent to the proposed gym site for access and parking.

Some bond money would be used to renovate the existing middle school gym, which is carpeted and smaller than competition-sized, into a cafeteria and multipurpose room. The existing cafeteria would be renovated to house shop classes.

Currently, shop classes are held in the school's basement, which is small and poorly ventilated. This limits the number of students who can take shop, Wing said.

The district may hire a construction manager to help select an architect and oversee the project. Other districts have saved money by using construction managers for building projects, Wing said.

The district will detail the building plans and hear public input at a community meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 in the Lakeside Elementary gym. For more information, visit www.somersdist29.org.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.