Colchester School District asks voters to approve $115 million bond to modernize its aging schools

Colchester School District superintendent Amy Minor remembers speaking to parents at parent conferences at Mallet’s Bay School last year when water began leaking from the ceiling.

Unfortunately, he said, this is not an uncommon occurrence at five schools in the area. Facilities managers are often repairing water leaks, dealing with general wear and tear, or fixing other problems that arise at Porter Point, Mallet’s Bay, and Colchester Secondary Schools; all of which have not been significantly renovated for decades.

Last year, an aging valve in one of the school’s ventilation systems burst, flooding the library and keeping the classroom closed for days.

Porter’s Point School and Union Memorial School were built in the 1950s and their mechanical systems have become obsolete. Colchester Secondary School has yet to be significantly renovated since the building was constructed in the 1960s.

In short, schools in Colchester are in poor shape. The district hopes to change that with a ballot measure that will go before residents on Nov. 5. $115 million bond This will fund major infrastructure improvements at all five of its schools over several years.

This is the first time the district has asked voters to support a facility improvement of this magnitude.

“Our maintenance team has done a good job of extending the life of all these important mechanical systems,” Minor said. “But at some point you have to invest in completely upgrading the windows, the roofs, the insulation; it’s kind of like, ‘Where are our facilities?’

If the deal is approved, the district would replace the HVAC, electrical and lighting systems at Porters Point, Colchester Middle School and Union Memorial schools and install a central air conditioning system.

Minor said the funding will also be used to make schools ADA compliant and create dedicated spaces for special education, intervention and support staff who currently work in hallways, subdivided offices in classrooms or other “nooks and crannies.” This will also allow the district to move its kindergarten program from Mallet’s Bay School to Porter’s Point and Union Memorial schools.

“A middle school that was built in 1968 and has not undergone major renovations or changes is in need of not only infrastructure repairs, but also bringing the facility up to the level needed to best educate and serve the students in our community. students, given what is expected of us in education today,” said Lindsey Cox, president of the district’s school board.

Meanwhile, Mallet’s Bay and Colchester High School will also be in line for renovations. The roof of the high school, the newest of the five buildings in the district, will be renewed, while the lighting system and HVAC system of Mallet’s Bay School will be renewed.

He held public meetings to answer residents’ questions about the bond. Most of those in attendance expressed support for the need for renovations, Cox said.

But even supportive residents wary of economic impactHe noted affordability remains an issue in the city.

“We have a lot of people… just like the rest of the state, they are feeling the latest change in the education funding formula in their current tax bill,” Cox said in an interview. “Most of what we hear is: ‘Yes, we support it. We believe in the work that needs to be done… And We are concerned about the economic impact.’”

‘This has to happen one way or another’

The region’s November ballot has been awaited for a long time.

According to Cox, work on the long-term facility plan began in earnest in 2013. In 2020, the school board moved to put the bond amount on the ballot, but those efforts were paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the need increased even more. The district is starting to see a slow but steady increase in enrollment, which is a good thing to have, but it increases the urgency of infrastructure problems, district officials said.

Colchester’s student population has remained steady at around 2,100 since 2009, but this year it rose above 2,200 for the first time, according to district data. Projections show that the district will have 2,300 students by 2030.

Over the past decade, Colchester district officials have frequently weighed whether to wait and see whether state aid for school construction would return. Vermont once contributed roughly 30% to school construction projects, but Suspended the program in 2007leaving the districts alone to cover maintenance and renovation costs.

Meanwhile, deferred maintenance needs have increased — a report from the Education Agency found that schools across the state are at least 6.3 billion dollar school construction need for the next 21 years.

Minor said the needs in Colchester are too great to wait for a legislative task force evaluating funding options for a statewide school construction program.

“Superintendents and school boards across the state have been hopeful since 2007 that school construction aid would return,” Minor said. “I think our board is still hopeful that it will come back, but we felt like we couldn’t wait because of the condition of the buildings, because the longer we wait, the more expensive these projects are going to be in the long run, we’re running for taxpayers.”

If the bond passes, residents won’t feel the impact on their tax bills until 2027. This payment will increase over four years and peak in 2031; Residents with a home assessed at $350,000 will pay $733 more in school taxes for the year. or $61 more per month — before decreasing.

It is not yet known whether citizens are willing or not. Some elected officials in the city voiced their support for the district ahead of the bond vote, including Colchester Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Pam Loranger, who added a letter of support to the selectboard’s agenda this month and applauded the “effort and thoughtful preparation of the $115 million bond request.” now before the voters of Colchester.” However, the agenda item was never discussed and was not addressed at the meeting.

This isn’t the first time school districts have put forward similar infrastructure ties, and many failed to garner voter support.

voters earlier this year Rejected $99 million offer Building a new middle school and high school in Woodstock. Last year, Stowe voters rejected a $39 million school bond that would have funded a massive overhaul of the middle and high school campus. And South Burlington voters, in 2020, loudly rejected a $209.6 million ballot measure to rebuild the city’s middle and high school.

Minor is confident residents will approve the measure. He pointed to data showing Colchester School District is the second-lowest spending district in Chittenden County on a per-student spending basis.

But regardless of whether the bond passes, “this has to happen one way or another,” Cox said.

“We must make our schools compliant with the rules. We need to create safe environments. “We need more space for the students coming to our district and to serve our students whose needs are increasing,” Cox said.