Questions

Questions are the answer. It’s all about asking the right questions. And finding answers of course. Which is why when asked this week about St. Mary’s students riding Marietta City School buses I found myself needing to find an answer.
By law we are required to provide transportation for students who live in our district. And, we are reimbursed for providing the transportation. If you think about it, it makes sense for us to do the transportation as we are going past those houses picking up our own students. It’s efficient.
While we’re on buses, you might recall that your district bought two buses this past school year as per our budget. The cost of these was formerly reimbursed 100% by state funds. No longer. Of the approximately $85,000 per bus cost, the state helped by paying only about $16,000. total for the year. That figure is expected to decline further in future years.
Another question that came up this week has to do with the status of our examination of buildings and the possibility of getting new buildings. While we don’t have any final numbers from the state as yet, we do know a few things.
We know that much of the examination done in 2003 on the high school seems to have missed a number of concerns, it would appear that renovating the high school may still be in the works, but that is the only building considered by the state to not be replaced. Final figures we’re told will not be available until some time in November.
As per the original study, it would appear that replacement of the elementary buildings and the middle school would be recommended and supported by the state sharing in the funding of such a project.
We have actually had our status change from the original study. Whereas we were rated for a 39% state share of funding for such projects; owing to our loss of population we were moved to a 27% share by the state. However, by re-engaging the original renovation process we have been grandfathered in at the 39% rate. That will be a big savings for the community in the long run.
The levy funds approved last spring are being used for books and other long term materials and safety projects only. We are avoiding putting funds in to the buildings until we can get a better handle on how we may proceed. Except to protect short term use, we are certainly not going to spend your hard earned tax dollars on buildings that my not be in use in the long run. The money is instead being put aside pending the outcome of the studies and the decision by the community.
We are already faced with a situation that would be better served with new buildings. Some elementary class sizes are such that it would be helpful to have them all in one building so that the addition of one teacher could reduce the class size numbers. As it stands, in some cases, it would require 4 teachers to ease the situation.
Mr. Young has been visiting PTO meetings and discussing these concepts with teachers and parents. The questions being asked are good ones, forward looking ones. Some of the answers are available, and some will have to await further information from the state.
In the meantime, if you have questions about any aspect of school operations, ask. The answer really is in asking the right questions. Even if they seem difficult they are beneficial. Better facts than rumors.