Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) board members Monday will consider putting a capital bond proposal on the ballot in 2018 – a decision that could shape the future of Glenn Loomis and Central Grade elementary schools.

Board members will meet at 4pm at the TCAPS administration building to discuss putting a bond proposal to voters in either August or November of next year. The district’s last successful bond campaign was in 2007, when voters approved a 3.1 millage rate to pay for bussing, technology, building maintenance, visual/performing arts programs, athletic facilities, and the reconstruction of Long Lake and Eastern elementary schools. Funds from that ten-year millage will soon evaporate, according to Associate Superintendent of Finance & Operations Christine Thomas-Hill.

“We’ve done a really good job over the years and have been able to stretch (the funds) out to approximately 2020,” says Thomas-Hill. “But we’re going to be running out. We have aging facilities to address…and we’re on a 10-year replacement cycle for our fleet of 100 buses. That’s typically part of our bond allocation, so we’ll be talking to the board to make sure we can sustain such a valuable program.”

TCAPS’ finance and operations committee has expressed a desire to keep the same millage rate and not pursue an increase, according to Thomas-Hill, who believes a requested increase was responsible for at least one of the district’s two failed bond proposals in 2012 and 2013.

“I think the focus needs to be on maintaining that 3.1 mills,” she says. “The market is better now, property taxes are better. We had a dip in ’08 or ’09, and we had to change the way we did projects to make the money last longer. But we still maintained the 3.1, so we’ve managed it well.”

Key to board members’ discussion will be identifying which specific projects and needs will be included in a new bond proposal. While continued funding for buses, technology, arts, athletics and maintenance are assumed inclusions, at least one and possibly two elementary school projects are also on the table.

“Glenn Loomis needs to be addressed,” says Thomas-Hill of the district’s Montessori school on Oak Street. “It’s an aging facility. It has a lot of older mechanicals, it’s not energy-efficient, and it needs an upgrade for security and safety standards to allow for a more cohesive learning environment.”

TCAPS board members Scott Hardy and Jan Geht, both of whom serve on the finance and operations committee, agree Glenn Loomis needs to be addressed. But whether Central Grade School – another aging facility in Central Neighborhood in need of a costly reconstruction – should be included in the bond, separated out into its own bond proposal, or even merged with Glenn Loomis into a new school are larger unanswered questions for the board members.

“I’m not sure the city’s master plan would be up in smoke if we didn’t have that school (Central Grade) in the heart of the neighborhood,” says Hardy. “Where else might we put it? And what would it cost to put it somewhere? It’s going to be a very expensive proposition (to reconstruct the school). It might be worth the investment, but that’s not a decision TCAPS makes in a vacuum. We need to give people some options.”

Hardy says Central Grade isn't as time-sensitive as Glenn Loomis, but that both schools will need to be addressed in the coming decade – or within the lifespan of the proposed bond. He likens maintenance at Central Grade to “a sort of Chinese water torture, where every year we’re dumping a half million to a million into that building. At what point do you say, enough is enough?”

Geht says TCAPS board members will need to consider “whether we’re going to reconstruct two schools or think of a different approach and do a single building along the lines of Eastern’s reconstruction,” able to accommodate multiple student populations.

“We need to explore whether it would be worthy of taxpayers’ money to have one larger school that houses Montessori and Central,” Geht says. “I’d like us to move away from making one decision at a time, where when we come to the next decision, our options are closed.  We know we need to do something about Central. We know we need to do something about Glenn Loomis. I think we need to take a comprehensive view of what it is we need to accomplish.”

Public input will be crucial to determining the future of both schools, board members say – direction that must be clear in order for the board to decide what's included in the bond proposal. Bond ballot language must be approved by either May or August of 2018, depending on whether TCAPS pursues an August or November election. Ensuring there’s enough time to both shape the bond proposal and communicate its details to the public is a priority for both staff and board members – particularly coming off two previous failed proposals.

“The only thing we can do, quite frankly, is educate the public as to why we need the funds,” says Geht. “I don’t think it’s in dispute we need the funds. But I also don’t think it’s in dispute that 80 percent of the voting public has no connection to TCAPS. We have to convince them why they should support a strong public education system in the region.”