BSVDWatch.org

For those who missed the BVSD School Board meeting on May 22, 2007, you may not have noticed the approval of the start of a $4,000,000 project to construct a new IT and Professional Development facility near Platt Middle School. The approval was to spend about 10% of that amount for initial architectural efforts. (see: http://agendapublic.bvsd.org/meetings.aspx ; select the 5/22/07 agenda for the actual meeting agenda item or the 6/12/07 agenda for the approval of the minutes.)

Last year voters in BVSD approved a bond of approximately $297 million for capital improvements to BVSD schools and facilities. A Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) was established to oversee projects under this bond.  However, unlike projects covered by the bond, the one approved in May for the IT facility slid under the radar of the public, except for those who may have attended the Board meeting.

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To review a bit of history, in the two years prior to the 2006 bond initiative, a citizen committee reviewed the state of BVSD facilities and developed a list of projects that needed funding to repair, maintain, and upgrade BVSD schools. The estimated cost of these projects exceeded $450 million. BVSD conducted a poll to determine the “willingness to pay” of voters in BVSD and concluded that the limit of acceptance was about $300 million; hence, actual bond initiative of $297. But that meant that about one-third of citizen-identified BVSD facilities improvement needs would go un-met.

The BVSD decision to take $4 million from capital reserve for a project that was not even identified on the original list of necessary projects should raise some eyebrows, not just for the project itself, but for the lack of public process. As noted in the Board meeting minutes, there are circumstances explaining the decision, such as displacement of students at Arapahoe Ridge. And when all is said and done, it could very well be that, when compared with the many other projects not covered by the 2006 Capital Improvements bond, the IT facility should come first. But at this point, there’s no way to tell. And more importantly, the public, the ultimate source of the money, is not being given the opportunity to help shape where the money goes.

BVSDWatch.org asks these questions:

• Shouldn’t major capital improvement projects in BVSD be under some kind of public oversight, similar the CBOC?

• Shouldn’t citizen-identified projects be considered alongside those identified by BVSD administration?

• Shouldn’t all major BVSD projects be prioritized based on student and education needs in a way that the pubic can see?

We think so.

(The BVSD Facilities Master Plan, which governs projects under the 2006 Capital Improvements bond, can be found at this link.)