School Facilities Upgrades
Prairie du Chien School
District may seek up to $18.4 million in facilities upgrades
By Ted Pennekamp
The Prairie du Chien School Board heard a presentation by FEH Design of Dubuque about the possible referendum for school facilities upgrades at the board’s regular meeting Monday night.
Gary Schulte and Emily Hilgendorf of FEH told the board that site plans and floor plans have been created for each of the three schools within the district. They said that they worked closely with the Advisory Task Force Committee which discussed the Community Survey information and the different options for possible facilities upgrades.
As of the Jan. 11, Schulte and Hilgendorf said that recommended possible facilities upgrades could approach approximately $18.4 million. They mentioned air conditioning in all three schools, a two-court gymnasium addition at the high school, an auditorium at the high school and that B.A. Kennedy has library and safety issues.
Schulte said that there are several alternatives which would be additive in nature, including a three-court gym addition, for example.
“Everything, however, can change,” said Schulte in noting that there will be a special school board meeting on Jan. 18 in order to finalize recommendations for the proposed referendum.
School Board President Christine Panka said that $18.4 million is a target number that would allow the district to construct the facilities upgrades without increasing the tax rate for school purposes from its current $10.66.
“We would like to keep the tax rate the same,” said Panka, who also noted that recommendations regarding school facilities upgrades were driven by the Community Survey information.
The referendum would likely be a two-question referendum. One question would involve allowing the school district to include operating budget items totalling $790,000 annually which would increase the revenue cap limit per student from $9,200 to $10,000. This would leave up to $1.4 million annually for capital project debt service payments and fund capital projects of approximately $18 million, according to the Advisory Task Force website found on the Prairie du Chien School District website. The other question may involve several facilities upgrade options recommended by FEH Design, including ventilation and air conditioning in all three schools at an estimated cost of $3.3 million, gym and support space at the high school of $3.2 million, gym and support space at Bluff View at $3.5 million, an auditorium at the high school at $9.5 million, a tech ed. addition at Bluff View at $578,531, tech ed. equipment and computers at Bluff View at $200,000, renovating the media center and adjacent spaces at B.A. Kennedy at $100,000, constructing/improving the parking and pickup lanes at Bluff View at $270,000, and constructing an upper elementary playground at Bluff View at $150,000.
The above items are all just options that may or may not be chosen as part of the final referendum questions.
According to the Advisory Task Force website, the options and recommendations were developed following several public meetings, ongoing community messages and 430 survey responses.
