Support West Valley schoolkids

Almost a year ago, West Valley trustees started seriously looking at a major problem. Overcrowding. West Valley contacted CTA architects for help. CTA came in and set up meeting with staff, trustees, and community members. There were two questions: What do you need, and what can you afford?

As a trustee, then the work began: Three days of meetings throughout February and March, with a combination of staff, community and CTA architects. Then numerous meetings with parents and community members, trying to get the word out to the voters that West Valley school is in trouble. They need rooms and they need them soon.

From townhall meetings at the school to parents opening up their houses so that West Valley administration and trustees could talk to community members. From flyers being sent home with students to addressing the concern with radio and TV interviews. They all have the same message — West Valley school is out of room and they need more soon.

West Valley has been one of the fastest growing school districts in Montana. They have grown 55 percent in the last 10 years at a rate of roughly 5 percengt per year. West Valley is currently 132 students and staff over maximum occupancy for the school. They currently have two classrooms in the basement of the building that was first built back in 1962. Custodial staff over the past couple of years have changed every closet into a classroom and this year had to add a classroom to the multipurpose room, which now can’t be used for extra gym space and now is strictly used for lunchroom purposes. With a hot lunch program that takes over two hours to serve, there just isn’t time to set up and tear down the multipurpose room for any other activities in it and with sixth- and seventh-grade lockers and kids coming and going in there, it just isn’t fitting to have anything else in that room. This is what has been called the Band-Aid approach to fixing the problem West Valley has: The school is out of room.

With the ever growing population in the West Valley district, there is only one thing West Valley staff can do: Take your children, add them to a classroom that is already busting at the seams and give them the best chance at a first-rate education that they can. With another eight houses approved for Habitat for Humanity in the Mountain Vista Way area subdivision, what does this mean? On an average, two more kids per house. West Valley has been growing at a rate of 20 to 30 kids per year. Just in those eight houses, there is almost what West Valley school grows per year. In the 50 plus square miles of the West Valley school district, and other houses that I’m currently seeing being built, West Valley school will be in the most serious dilemma it has seen in years. The school is out of room but the administration will find another Band-Aid. They will add those new children to the rooms that are already overflowing and have the teachers do what they do the best, accommodate your children and give them the best education they can.

In the past eight years, development along the U.S. 93 corridor and the easternmost boundary of West Valley school district, has seen a boom in construction from Costco, Lowe’s, McDonald’s, Applebee’s, Famous Daves, Wells Fargo bank, Holiday Inn Express, Starbucks and Med North. Do you know what that means to you? The taxable value for the school goes up and your personal property taxes go down. The taxable value for West Valley School was $4.1 million back in the 2005-2006 school year. In January 2005, Lowe’s opened its doors and Costco opened in October 2005. Our taxable value was raised a million dollars to $5.1 million in just one year.

It doesn’t mean Lowe’s and Costco were solely responsible for that huge increase in value that year, but they had a pretty good chunk of it. We have seen a taxable value increase of 47 percent since the 2005/06 school year to $7.7 million.

As construction continues in the Spring Prairie Phase 3 area, with the recent occupant, Cabela’s, and the current construction of and eye clinic in the lots east of Glacier High School, all this means more taxable value to West Valley district, which in turn means less property taxes you pay to West Valley School.

We all have seen how development took off around Lowe’s and Costco once all the lots were readied for construction there. Cabela’s new store is slated to open in November this year and all that land now has been readied for construction and the current plan, which I have seen, calls for another 6-9 stores that can be accommodated in that Phase 3 area. All that means to you is less taxes you pay to the school.

West Valley School is looking at a $6.8 million bond to add 15 new classrooms, a new auxiliary gym, expanded library, and more administration room. As some articles have stated, the school is also looking at adding a kitchen but the kitchen is not priority. It would be nice to have a kitchen but our main concern is classrooms first and kitchen last. Couple of years ago a couple of rooms were added and are ready for a kitchen if funds are available but our main concern now is to get the students out of the basement and ready the school for 20 years down the road.

You are saying $6.8 million, WOW. But ask yourself, can you afford 42 cents a day? On average, the phase-in value of a $200,000 house in the West Valley will go up 42 cents a day or roughly $154 a year. That is the phase-in value, not appraised value or taxable value, and this is before Cabela’s and Glacier View Eye Center open and bring that taxable value even higher for the school district which means less taxes to you.

If you look at your taxes for West Valley School and only West Valley school, you can see that the taxes you were paying in 2010 for the school is roughly $180 more than you are paying now, depending on the phase-in value of your home and property.

This is something the trustees and administration of West Valley School have not rushed into. We have done our homework and have looked at every possible situation. We know people don’t like to pay more taxes but the longer we wait, the more it’s going to cost. Every year we don’t do something about this overcrowding, we can almost guarantee an increase of about 5 percent in construction costs. It’s time to get those kids out of the basement, stop with the Band-Aid effect, and make a first-rate school that is not just going to benefit the kids but the community as well.

Voters in the West Valley school district, you have a serious decision to make. To solve the school’s major problem, lack of space, they need a yes vote from you. Are the kids worth it? Are your grandkids worth it? Yes they are. The ballots went out on Oct. 1 and are due back by Oct. 22 by 8 p.m. Please remember to vote.

Hill is a West Valley School Board trustee.