By Rebecca Kruth, WKAR News
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LANSING, MI –
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The Lansing School District is currently facing some difficult financial issues. Many of its aging buildings are in constant need of repair and maintenance, making it difficult for the schools to run efficiently and for the district's maintenance staff to keep up. The funding to address these issues isn't always easy to locate. This November the district is asking voters to consider a millage that would create a fund designated for building repairs and replacements.
AUDIO:
The halls of Gardner Middle School are lit by inefficient fluorescent lights. The rooms are heated by a 48-year-old boiler system that tends to break down. The roof has been patched countless times, and the ceilings show evidence of leaks.
It's safe to say that the building is getting worn out.
Gardner is one of 40 buildings that make up the Lansing School District. The average age of a building in this district is 50 years old.
Lansing Schools are asking for a 1.5 mill tax increase for the next five years. The plan would generate about $21 million to create a "sinking fund" to pay for infrastructure improvements. Bryan Ralph, chief operating officer of the Lansing School District, says this will keep the district from tapping the general fund to pay for the necessary repairs and maintenance.
If you were to take four million dollars a year out of the operating funds, you've got to cut something somewhere else," Ralph says "and the last thing we'd like to do as a district is to cut things from the classroom."
Ralph says Gardner's boiler room is one example of a high priority repair. The equipment, although clean and well-maintained, is clearly wearing out. The two boilers are loud and streaked with rust. A building certificate hanging on the wall shows that they were installed in 1968.
"A lot of that stuff you see there, all you've got to do is look at it, and you can see that this is not 10 years old," he says. "This is quite old, right? There's a limit to how long systems like these can last in the future."
Todd Coe is supervisor of the district's preventative maintenance department. He has 14 employees who service the entire district. He says the aging facilities make it difficult to keep up with repairs.
"We get multiple work orders that come out for preventative maintenance," Coe says, "and when we do that, we'll go through to try and keep things up before we have to replace them, but it's been so many years that now we're running into things where some of the stuff is beyond repair."
Next week, voters will be the ones to ultimately decide whether or not the millage will pass. In these tough economic times, district spokesman Steve Serkaian says it's difficult to predict what will be decided at the polls, but he remains optimistic.
"When I speak to community groups about this measure, the question I'm most asked is, why hasn't the district done this sooner?" Serkaian says. "Why hasn't the district placed a measure on the ballot to support a building and site seeking fund? Especially when they learn of the building needs and also become aware that suburban school districts like Okemos, Haslett, East Lansing, and Dewitt have similar funds."
In the end, Bryan Ralph feels that the condition of the district's buildings speaks for itself.
"We always like to say that sometimes you've got to see issues to believe them and then after that, let our conscious be our guide," he says.
The district already has a list of high priorities - mostly boilers and roofs. If the millage passes, the planning phase would likely begin this January with work starting as early as next spring.
Election 2010 - WKAR
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