Jasper School Corp $40M bond addresses needs for next several years

Beginning in 2022 and continuing through 2029, the Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation will take on updates and maintenance projects affecting most of its buildings and some of its sports facilities.

Here is an overview of the projects for 2022.

At Jasper High School, the Career and Technical Education classroom area will be expanded to the east of the building. The expansion will add room for the robotics and automotive classes. Automotive shares space with manufacturing, and the robotics and woodshop classes are commingled. Additionally, the agriculture classroom needs more space for labs and the addition of hydroponics.

The updates will also include an updated layout to enhance security and safety. A corridor will be added, and the classes will be more compartmentalized.

“Much of the coursework that occurs within that area through the Career Technical Education department requires a lot of labs and hands-on learning,” said Superintendent Tracy Lorey. “And the current space is not really conducive to some of the lab work that is associated with the courses that our teachers are offering.”

At Ireland Elementary, the HVAC system needs to be replaced. The corporation uses parts from the systems originally installed at Fifth and Tenth Street Schools to keep the system in Ireland Elementary running.

In addition to the HVAC improvements, there will be updates to the interior finishes (paint and carpet) as well as the addition of four new classrooms. The new rooms will be used for kindergarten, and the kindergarten rooms will become the preschool classrooms (the board approved adding a morning and afternoon pre-k program at Ireland for the 2022-23 school year at the meeting on Monday).

According to Clerk of the Works Scott Stenftenagel, the new classrooms will also be used as extra classes while renovations occur in the school building.

They also plan to expand the nurse’s station and renovate the office and entrance to the school for better visibility and security.

Work at Alumni Stadium includes the replacement of both the home and visitor bleachers. Stenftenagel pointed out the deterioration of the concrete pylons supporting the bleachers was an issue driving the replacement. In addition, the home and visitor locker rooms will also be replaced as part of the project. The new visitor locker room will also be used for the boy’s and girls’ track and field.

The current visitor locker room and storage area will be completely gutted and renovated to be ADA compliant. It will still be used as concessions and a storage area as well. They also plan to replace poles and lighting and update the entrances to Alumni Stadium and add walkways.

In 2023, the corporation will continue with needed maintenance to buildings. They plan on replacing the roof on the high school through a phased approach that will continue over several years, purchasing property to create a new entry to Ireland Elementary from State Road 56, making updates to the Jasper High School HVAC system, and improving the Varsity Softball Field. Those improvements include adding/adjusting bleachers for better spectating, updating the lighting, installing artificial turf, and a new scoreboard.

In 2024, Ruxer Field will get new lighting, new scoreboards, the field will be regraded, irrigation updated, the main entrance updated, and new walkways added. The right-field bleachers will also be replaced.

Interior upgrades, including new boilers and other maintenance-related issues, will continue to be addressed at the Jasper High School and Middle School from 2024 to 2028 through a phased approach.

In all, the estimated cost of the renovations, updates, additions, and maintenance needed is about $47 million. The bond will cover about $39 million of those projects, and the balance will come from the school corporation’s operating funds.

With soft costs associated with the bond issuance, the corporation plans on issuing a $40 million bond in 2023, with the bond anticipation note being issued in early 2022.

Lorey pointed out the projects do not impact the debt service tax rate since the new debt will come on the books as old debt is retiring. The tax service debt rate for the corporation is about $0.61 per $100 of assessed value — with the increased assessed value of the City of Jasper, that rate has fallen to about $0.57 per $100 in 2022.

With the added debt, the corporation will maintain that average $0.60 rate continuing forward until 2028, when the paid-off debt begins to effectively reduce the debt service tax rate of the school corporation unless other projects are funded through debt service.

“I think the most important takeaway here is the fact that we have needs, and we have the ability to finance those needs without overburdening our local taxpayers beyond what we currently ask them to support for the school,” Lorey said.

The corporation updates its long-range plan two to three times a year. The planning addresses things as they come up and the future needs of the infrastructure in the corporation. With the anticipated needs in light of the falling debt, the corporation determined that a single bond issuance would be the best plan moving forward. This would prevent the additional costs associated with the bond counsel and issuance fees if they bonded each project or group of projects in a phased approach.

With the tax service debt falling, the corporation is in a unique position to address the wear and tear on the infrastructure and take on some of those anticipated needs that could be considered larger projects.

“The idea of being able to expand our career and technical education area here at the high school fits the focus that we see statewide on the need for students to be able to have learning opportunities in those areas, whether it’s engineering, robotics, agriculture,” Lorey said. “That space being conducive to the kinds of learning and opportunities that our teachers are working to afford our kids; that’s exciting.”

The updates to Ireland Elementary School are important as well. “Being able to add space so that we can expand that preschool program appropriately, create a secured entry, and then get that building mechanically where it needs to be so that our kids have a top-notch facility to learn and grow in; that’s exciting,” Lorey said.

She sees the extracurricular activities available to the students as learning experiences, so those additions and improvements are essential. “Giving them the kind of facilities and grounds that help them to have success is exciting all the way around,” she added.