The Board of Education is seeking voter approval at the April 5, 2022 election for a $2,200,000 general obligation bond issue that will be used to renovate the Agriculture Center; construct a community center/gymnasium; and to the extent that fund are available, complete other repairs and improvements to the existing facilities of the District. Based on a conservative 1.00% rate of growth in assessed valuation, it is anticipated that the current $0.2500 debt service tax levy will be increased by $0.2500 to $0.5000 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation. This is a tax increase of $47.50 for a home with an appraised value of $100,000.

Under Missouri law the only way a School District can legally borrow money for school facilities’ improvements or construction on a full faith and credit basis is to seek voter approval of a general obligation bond issue. A “general obligation” means that the School District can and must levy sufficient taxes to repay the principal and interest associated with the bonds. With voter approval of at least a four-sevenths majority at the April 5, 2022 election the District can then sell the $2,200,000 of bonds in increments of $5,000. This financing process gains access to numerous investors at favorable terms compared to what would happen if the District were dependent upon a single lender to supply the funding. The interest earned by the investors is exempt from federal and state of Missouri income taxes. With the interest being tax-exempt, the actual rate the District must pay is much lower than would otherwise be the case for a typical loan. Based upon current interest rates in the municipal bond market, the average yield to the investor is expected to be less than 3.00%.

The existing $0.2500 debt service fund levy is adequate to repay the existing bonds and has been consistent over the past 10 years (since fiscal year 2011-12). Despite modest growth in assessed valuation and interest savings of $54,717 from a previous bond re-financing, the current levy is not adequate to cover the principal and interest payments on an additional $2,200,000 bond issue. An extra $0.2500 levy (total of $0.5000) is required to meet the annual payments. With the current interest rate market near historical lows, this is the time to invest in our schools. If the projects are delayed until next year or later, the cost of borrowing as well as the construction costs are likely to be much higher

Yes, the bonds will contain optional redemption (call) features that enable the District to prepay them at no penalty in the event fund balances become large enough for that to occur. The call feature also provides the District the opportunity to refund the bonds to take advantage of lower interest rates in the future, if the overall economic conditions create that set of circumstances.

Yes, the bonds will be available to local investors prior to being offered to others. If you are interested in purchasing some of the bonds, let the District offices know and they will ensure you are contacted after the election.

The District can expect to receive an AA+ rating by S&P Global on the general obligation bonds. Missouri school districts issuing general obligation bonds for construction purposes are eligible in most cases to participate in the State of Missouri Direct Deposit Program. This program provides each issuer with an AA+ rating.

Short answer: Weight room will be relocated into a portion of the ag building. The second gymnasium will connect to the south of the relocated weight room.

Long answer: We will move the weight room into a portion of the ag building that is currently sitting underutilized. Since the school cut the industrial arts program and gained Northwest Technical school the woodshop space and classroom area sit vacant most of the year. We believe with a bigger and enhanced layout in the renovated ag shop area we can move the wood working tools into one big ag space instead of two separate shops. The new ag shop layout will feature enhanced storage and moveable workspaces so that our ag program can adjust equipment based on the unit they are covering. The new gymnasium will connect to the south of the weight room so that patrons can utilize the weight room and the indoor walking space around the practice gymnasium. By utilizing a portion of the ag building, we can share existing utilities, restrooms, and keep proximity to our current locker room facilities.

It is true that we have survived without a second gym since the construction of the school. However, we are always looking for ways to make our school and community better. While we will survive without a second gym we feel that it would benefit our students, staff, families, and community members. It is true that it is not a need but an enhancement with many benefits. Here are a few benefits:

CLASS SCHEDULING: The second gym would give us more opportunities to have physical education in all grades. When the gym is in use by the HS, it is off use for the elementary and vice versa. This really restricts our physical education schedule for both the elementary and the HS.

PRACTICE SCHEDULING: From October through March all HS organizations must work around basketball practice schedules. Having one gym limits more than just basketball as we all share the same students and must wait for team sports to finish for other activities to practice. Here is an example scenario. It's late November. Junior High basketball girls and boys are sharing the gym after school. 19 boys are on one half court. 11 girls on the other half court. Zero full-court work is getting practiced. After junior high is done the varsity girls come in from 4:30 to 6:30. After the girls are done the varsity boys come in from 6:30-8:30. Some students hung out with their friends or drove around town waiting for practice. Some students asked a teacher to stay in their room and work and the teacher agreed to stay and supervise them. Some families had their student ride the bus home and then took them back in for practice. Some students could drive and just made an extra trip home and back then home again. Perhaps a team could have had morning practice (and often they do) but it's still a special trip to school for many families. As you can see it's a scheduling nightmare and cheer or color guard hasn't had a chance to have the gym yet. Our elementary teams don't even stand a chance to use the gym during the week. Play practice can't use the stage until basketball is over. If the band has a concert the teams can't practice. If the JH has a game then the varsity can't practice. A second gym would ease the pressure on our practice schedules and therefore reduce scheduling conflicts for our students, staff, coaches, and families.

FAMILIES: We believe that getting our students home from school sooner benefits families as they will have more time at home, more time to study, and less trips to school. We also know that this will benefit our coach’s families and reduce coaching burnout as we know they have families to get home to as well.

STAFF: Something that often goes unnoticed is the amount of work our staff must do in maintaining our gym between practices, programs, and community rentals. For example, when we have concerts or school programs the gym needs to be used for as long as possible during the school day for our PE classes but also needs to be set up by a certain time frame for the program. Then immediately after the program it must be taken down for after school practice. This is a lot of extra work and stress for our custodial staff. A second gym would allow our K-12 PE classes to still occur when special events take place. A second gym would allow our concerts to remain set up in-between rehearsal and event time. Overall, it would reduce wear and tear on our main gym facility and reduce work load and logistical problems for all our custodial/maintenance staff, PE classes, sponsors, and coaches.

COMMUNITY: Our second gym will feature a walking area and will connect to the relocated weight room. Community members will be able to purchase for a small yearly fee the ability to use the weight room and the walking area when not in use by school teams. This fee will help us maintain equipment and ensure that the facilities are being used properly. Youth sports, church groups, and community events will be able to affordably rent our facilities to host events. (If an event benefits our students the fee is often waived.) A fitness center would be a benefit to living in Worth County.

Currently the school has started serving breakfast and lunch from the multipurpose room for the elementary. This started during the COVID-19 pandemic as it was important to minimize exposure of elementary passing through our JH/HS and to maximize social distancing during the pandemic with smaller lunch shifts. As of this time it is something both our principals want to maintain even after the pandemic as it helps on the scheduling side of not having to plan lunch shifts around each other. However, this means our multipurpose room is off limits for recess and class activities. With low temps or rainy conditions our students have been having recess in their classrooms, missing the needed physical activity and change of scenery. Even if the multipurpose room was available it is not big enough to house more than one class at a time let alone play an organized game. A second gym gives us recess options when weather does not permit. A second gym also gives us a place to do classroom activities that take extra space.