Changes planned for Libby schools
Budget shortfall causes return to K-6, 7-12 scheme
by Duane Williams, KLCB-KTNY Radio
September 29, 2010
Its "Back to the 50's". Set the clock back 60 years.
Schools all over the United States operated K-8, 9-12, or K-6, 7-9, 10-12. Then there were Junior Highs Schools for 7-9, and later Middle Schools. In Lincoln County some were all grades single room schools in the 50's. Millions of students around the country survived it.
The Libby school system is going to return to a K-6, 7-12 scheme.
The cost will be $12 million dollars.
A bond issue will be run in the spring asking voters of School District 4 to approve a $12 million dollar bond. The bond will be 20 years at a projected 4%.
Consolidation was on the table, but the final decision is being pushed by a $450,000 operating shortfall.
The current middle school will house K-6. The current high school will house 7-12, modified to segregate the 7-8 from the 9-12. Asa Wood will be closed. The fate of Asa Wood has not been determined, but the school board has pledged the building will not be permitted to sit empty, and the Environmental Protection Agency has said they will help the district tear it down.
Additional facilities will need to be constructed at both schools, including new, additional, gymnasiums at both locations.
Coincidently, the schools have asked three times for a federal appropriation through Senator Max Baucus for $12 million to build a new school to replace Asa Wood. 12 million to build a new school. $12 million to convert to a two building system.
In the late 70's, Libby was a seven building system with about 2000 student population. Today, it is approaching 1100 students by 2020.
Declining enrollment is the driving force, and the primary cause of the operating deficit.
If the bond fails, the most likely outcome would be to consolidate anyway into the high school and middle school as they are, at a cost of one million dollars, and float a mill levy asking voters to raise the nearly half million dollar operating shortfall.
Either approach will mean an increase in taxes. The bond will increase taxes on a $100,000 taxable value home by about $100 per year.
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Story by Duane Williams, KLCB-KTNY Radio, www.todaysbestcountryonline.com, e-mail: klcb@frontiernet.net.
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