Superintendent urges involvement in discussion about construction

The Royal School District is planning on running a school construction bond on Feb. 12 that will meet our needs for future growth. The ballots will be mailed out on Jan. 25.

Royal School District has grown 244 percent since 1966. We are projected to increase our enrollment from our October count of 1559 to 1760 by the year 2016. We have limited space in all of our buildings.

As a temporary solution to our needs, we recently purchased two portables with two classrooms each, for a total of four new classrooms. These portables did help with classroom space, but not with the crowding in the hallways and cafeterias.

If, in fact, our enrollment does increase, we would have to consider buying more portables to ease classroom shortages. But it would not alleviate overcrowding in other areas of the buildings.

The total cost of the construction project is estimated to be $14.25 million. However, we will be asking the voters to approve a sale of construction bonds for $8.75 million.

We will receive $4.4 million from state match monies, and the district will contribute $1.1 million that has been save for this purpose. The $4.4 million state match is contingent on passage of the bond.

A deciding factor to run this bond was the opportunity to claim state matching funds of $4.4 million. This would mean that a property owner would pay approximately $1.18 per $1,000 of assessed property value per year in new property taxes until the bonds were redeemed.

This bond will pay for an intermediate school that will have 14 additional classrooms, a full cooking kitchen, a multipurpose gym, space for support staff and four additional classrooms and a bank of girls and boys bathrooms at the high school.

The school board and I would appreciate any comments and feedback you might have regarding the upcoming bond. I can be reached at 346-2222. Individual board members may be reached as follows:

Board President Bonney Brown: 346-9260. Board Vice President Bob Murphy: 346-9261. Director Craig Janett: 346-2620. Director Michael Noftle: 346-1888. Director Mike Scroggins: 346-9742.

Rosemarie Search

Superintendent - Royal Schools