Vocal Point: Bond will help EVSD continue on road to recovery

As president of the East Valley Education Association and an employee for the last 25 years, I have been directly involved in the ups and downs of our school district.

I have watched valued staff lose their jobs because of declining enrollment and shortages in funds. I have been the watchdog who brought information to the members of our association and to the taxpayers. Believe me, if I had any doubt about the East Valley School District requesting the taxpayers approve a bond I would be the first one to say it.

I believe that we are on the road to recovery. Our current administration has worked tirelessly to improve our financial situation. Decisions have been made to return $150,000 to the budget in order to replace some of the items that were cut last year. These decisions were made with input from not only our administrators but parents and staff as well. And we will have more than $500,000 in our reserves by the end of this year.

The East Valley administration and the school board have been working to improve communication by implementing the Superintendent Advisory Council, the Parent Council, no-host coffees with Superintendent Howard, and conversations with the board the fourth Tuesday of the month following the board meeting. These are some of the actions that lead me to believe we are moving forward to build a new and better East Valley School District.

For the last two years a facilities committee has been working to determine the condition of our buildings. I have been at many of these meetings and toured most of our buildings, being educated on their true condition.

When you walk into any of our buildings they look well cared for. This is due to the diligence of our maintenance staff which has worked very hard to keep our buildings in top condition, so most people would wonder why we need to make expensive upgrades. But we are at a point where if we don’t begin to make major improvements, all of our buildings will be in need of expensive work at the same time.

With the recommendation of the Facilities Committee and the approval of the school board, East Valley is bringing a bond to the taxpayers. Bond money can only be used for capital repairs and improvements to our buildings. This bond will pay for major improvements to Otis Orchards Elementary School, East Valley Middle School and Mountain View Middle School.

These improvements will include heating, plumbing, ventilation/air quality; electrical/power, technology network upgrades, lighting; windows; security/safety improvements; roofing, windows, etc. These improvements will be done within the existing infrastructure and will extend the life of these schools for 30 to 40 more years. Our elementary schools will receive the necessary wiring to upgrade our technology networks as well as safety/security improvements. Our goals are to meet all the current codes, address building suitability for education, extend the useful life of the schools, and meet high performance school criteria as set out by the state.

These necessary improvements come with a price. We, the taxpayers, will pay approximately $33 million. The great news is that roughly $22 million will be paid using state matching funds for a total cost of $55 million. The even better news is that our old bond will be paid off at the same time this new bond goes into effect so we will not see any increase in our taxes. In fact, the old bond rate was $1.50 per $1,000 and the new bond rate will be approximately $1.40 per $1,000. This is a win-win situation for our students.

Our children are our future. Help East Valley improve education with better learning environments and vote “yes” for the East Valley bond when you ballot arrives on Feb. 15.

If you have any questions, you can call any school or go to www.ev4education.org.