Purchase of property across from the school / the school owns too many properties

Questions / Comments

Why did the school buy land across from the existing school if they are in need of money?

Why does the school own so much land?

Will the school sell land if the Income Tax goes through?

Is the school going to build a field house?

Data / Links

Permanent Improvement vs Operations - https://www.ohioschoolboards.org/sites/default/files/OSBAUnderstandingLeviesFactSheet.pdf

ANSWER:

Quick Answer - Land is an asset. The value of land has traditionally gone up and if the District needs to grow, they need to have the land to accommodate that growth.

The money utilized for the purchase of land and the improvement of the fields is PI money, NOT operations money. The District cannot use PI money for the purposes that they need it for which is day-to-day operating expenses.

The District has been frugal with the PI money, which has allowed them to make strategic investments that will help protect the District's interests in the future.

Over the last 3-4 years there has been discussions about additional indoor gym space (due to the District allowing MURA to use their facilities) and the interest to have children not practice at 9PM, as well as FFA space, auditorium space, and many other concepts to allow the students to do more. We can find few discussions about it formally, but we are aware that this was discussed and considered at some point in the last 5 years, albeit not very seriously.

Looking at this honestly, if the District decided that they wanted to build a Fieldhouse, they would need to raise a lot more money than they have (Newton's Fieldhouse cost $2.5 million in 2019), which would require private financial support and much more external discussion and community support.

Long Answer -

New Sod on the football / soccer fields

Utilizing PI money (which cannot be used for operations), the District improved the field conditions at the football and soccer fields. These fields were scheduled to be replaced and safety had become a much bigger factor over the last couple years. The funds were budgeted, and the PI fund is able to handle these improvements with the existing levy income.

Purchasing Land on Milton-Potsdam

With the mixed-use development going in on SR571, the District is preparing for the influx of students that will come with an additional 442 housing units (134 - SF Units - Phase 1, 146 SF Units - Phase 2, 162 Rental Units - Phase 2).

Utilizing an average of 1.94 kids per household (2022 data) we can anticipate that once completely built-out the school may see upwards of 857 additional kids in the school system. With a current enrollment of 1,327 that would be an increase of 64.55%. If divided evenly among the K-12 grades that would be an increase of 65 kids per grade.

What this means is that the District WILL have to build additional facilities in the future and the land to do so would need to be controlled. That is why the land was purchased.

There are many studies showing that consolidated school locations save substantial costs on operations for the District, and utilizing the old school property in town or the MURA fields would causes substantial challenges that were not simple to solve. Controlling the property across the street from the school allows for the District to plan for their growth appropriately and assure they do it as cost effectively as is feasible.

Property Ownership

The District allows the Milton-Union Recreation Association (MURA) the ability to utilize a large portion of the available land the District owns at no cost to MURA. This is an extremely uncommon relationship, but the District is proud of the ability they have been able to provide that opportunity for so many years.

The land where the old school was located is currently utilized as a practice football field. If that property were to be sold, or developed, there would be costs associated with the creation of a new practice football field somewhere.

The District is looking at putting together a facilities management plan to make their plans more public for the future utilization of land they own and their goals and priorities.

When looking at properties to build a new school in the future, though, there were clearly not many great options:

Not allow MURA to use the land to the east or south of the track and build a location there with substantial paved surfaces necessary to get buses in and out safely.
Cut down the woods to the west of the complex.
Build north of the complex on property that was available