BELLE — Following two failed general obligation bond requests in 2023 and 2024, the Gasconade County R-2 Board of Education on Oct. 24 met with representatives from Stifel, its brokerage and investments banking firm, to discuss the district’s fiscal outlook, potential improvements and the long-range facilities plan.

Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy broke down the discussion.

Funding:

Stifel’s Becky Esrock told the board their current bonding capacity is around $25 million. The number fluctuates with assessed property valuations, but it’s not a reassessment year.

The board discussed three possible options to fund future projects:

• General Obligation Bond is the best deal. The district has historically completed facility projects and upgrades with the general obligation bond issue because it has the interest rate return to allow it to complete more projects. However, it is hard to pass because it requires 57 percent voter approval. This is the no-tax increase bond that failed in 2023 and 2024.

“The best for the school district and taxpayers is the no tax increase general obligation bond,” Hardy said. “The interest rates on the general obligation bond are lower. The district’s return interest rates are higher and so there is more money to use to complete projects over time. When you purchase bonds, you earn interest on those bonds that you purchase and the interest is greater than the amount it would be if you are just transferring debt service money to the general fund.

• Ask voters’ permission to move a portion of the debt service levy into the general operations fund and voluntarily roll back the debt service tax.

“What we could do with a fifty-fifty general obligation bond is lower the debt service and put some of the funds toward operating cost,” Hardy explained. “That debt service money is obligated specifically for projects, buildings, buses, or technology. Funds designated to projects may earn interest versus transferring pennies into the general obligation fund. We earn more money over time if it stays in the debt service fund.”

• Request approval for a lease-purchase.

The district becomes the renter and the bank becomes the landlord. The interest rates are higher, so more money goes toward the bank than district projects. The funds may not earn interest that would assist in early payback or advancing more projects.

What’s next?

• Develop a committee:

The district is scrapping the recommendations from the 2022 long-range facility planning committee and beginning anew.

• Have the committee meet and visit all locations:

“We will go back through the entire process again,” Hardy said. “If anyone wants to be part of this committee, please contact the Administration Office. We want business owners, constituents, and parents. Anyone who lives in the district and has a vested interest in improving the district, we welcome them to the committee.”

• The committee won’t be formed until around February.

“We will probably shoot around February or March to do the building tours,” Hardy said.

• The Committee will come together to discuss the process and submit projects to the board of education:

“(Projects) will depend on when the long-range planning facility committee comes together,” Hardy said. “What they all decide. We do a list of projects and the committee ranks the projects based on where they see the need.”

If the committee doesn’t think an auditorium or other line item is a priority, they can choose not to rate it as a need.

• Provide a line item cost for constituents:

Something new this time around is TIPS (The Interlocal Purchasing System) that will allow the district to have a rough idea of cost by line item.

“TIPS offers us access to companies that have already been competitively bid,” Hardy said. “We don’t have to go through a new pricing process. They already streamlined the process to complete the competitive bid process that meets government guidelines.”

Projects:

Each building had a list of priorities during the previous two bond issues. At Owensville High School, additional classrooms, an auditorium and safety concerns were all tied together. The biggest push against the bond issue was the auditorium.

“If we take it out we haven’t solved the problem with the dance team, drama club, wrestlers and volleyball team all having to use the small gym at the same time,” Hardy said. “The auditorium frees the gym for sports and moves the arts into the arts center.”

If the auditorium is removed from the classroom expansion project becomes a smaller footprint for the arts and career technology education (CTE) programs.

• Band and choir would move into the new addition where an additional CTE classroom for auto mechanics and screen printing will be located.

• The former band and choir room would become the weight room, saving class time and ensuring further safety and security for students who wouldn’t need to leave the building.

• The current CTE classroom shares a lab with the science department. The classroom has inadequate ventilation or equipment. The current auto mechanics class shares a portion of a bay in the Ag building. Both spaces would return to the previous occupants to allow them more room for bigger projects.

“Right now, all of these groups are in makeshift classes,” Hardy said.