By Michael Howell
Faced with a declining enrollment that is projected to continue over the next few years and the associated decline in funding, the Hamilton School District administration has put together an ambitious plan to deal with the forecasted shortfall in revenues while providing for continued support of the school’s academic programs and at the same time providing for needed improvements to the school’s athletic facilities.
According to Hamilton School District Superintendent Tom Korst, while there was an up tick in enrollment in 2012, the district lost 100 school-aged children since the 2000 school year. He said recent demographic studies suggest that it is a trend that will continue in the county for the next five years. The declining enrollment and concomitant reduction in revenue is predicted to lead the school district to a $700,000 shortfall in its budget by the 2019-2020 school year.
Korst said since 2012 the district has cut close to a million dollars from its budget by reducing staff and general operating costs. Further cuts of over $400,000 will most likely be necessary to balance the budget over the next five years. This does not account for wage increases, changing in the state’s funding formula, and decreases in federal programs, all of which are showing signs of potential reductions.
According to Korst, the last levy passed by the district voters was in 2014. The $485,000 levy was “target specific and we met the target,” he said. The target involved instituting a career pathways program, a theater, reduction in various fees, enhanced keystone and other ongoing costs of the academic programs.
“We were rated in the top five high schools in the state in 2015,” said Korst, “and in the top 10% in the nation.”
Korst said the good part of the plan is that the combined levy and bond needed to accomplish it would kick in as the previous bond is retired and the taxpayers would not see any increase in their tax payments.
Korst said that he did a lot of research into the possibility of consolidating the district into a K-4, 5-8, 9-12 configuration that would allow for the potential sale of the Washington school building and a savings in operation and maintenance costs for the district. He said that half of all the Class A schools in the state are using the three-school configuration including Stevensville, Corvallis, Polson, Whitefish, Laurel and Belgrade.
The high school building would not need any changes, according to Korst, and could accommodate up to 200 more students in the 9-12 grades. The middle school has enough classroom space but would need playground improvements. Fifth and sixth graders would occupy the existing building and seventh and eighth graders would be located in the pod.
The Daly school building would need about eight additional classrooms as well as classroom upgrades, some mechanical upgrades, food service kitchen remodel, bus transportation upgrades, and playground improvements. Plans also include adding a gym and a library as well as more parking. There is plenty of room to accommodate that and future expansions.
Korst said that the idea of the athletic complex came up as an alternative to trying to upgrade the existing athletic complex at Haynes Field.
“The bleachers are in need of upgrading and repair,” he said. “The parking is inadequate, there are no bathrooms.” He said moving the complex to the high school where adequate parking and bathroom facilities already exist made a lot of sense. He said the students would be saved a trip across town to get to the field. He said the track at Haynes Field was basically unusable for track meets.
“We are not asking for something like the Washington Stadium,” said Korst, “but we are wanting to at least be up to par with other Class A schools in the state with our facilities.” He said the current stadium at Haynes Field holds about 1100 people. The stadium planned at the high school would hold 1500.
The estimated price of the whole development? An $8 million bond to fund the necessary facility upgrades at Daly and the construction of the new athletic complex at the high school. The accompanying $500,000 levy would be used to maintain the current programs, provide for further innovation, address adequate compensation for recruitment and retention of staff, and fund ongoing maintenance to extend the life of the remaining facilities.
If the voters approve, the district will seek potential buyers for the Westview and Washington school buildings. The Westview building is currently leased by the University of Montana Bitterroot College
“The overall goal is to do all this without any change in the existing taxes that people in the district are currently paying,” said Korst. He also said, “This is going to take some time. It is not going to happen tomorrow. It might happen by 2019. Employees will have a two-year window before any adjustments are made.”
“I’m excited,” said Korst. “We are looking at some comprehensive improvements. It’s a big step towards becoming the best school in the state.”
A meeting is scheduled for a discussion of the proposal at the middle school auditorium at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1. The school board may consider the proposal at its March 14th meeting.
Eric Larson, Director of Student Services, called it a “pro-active way of addressing a projected $700,000 shortfall in the budget.” He said it was not just the students who would gain, the whole community would gain.
“I know a lot of people will use the gym if one is built at Daly,” he said. He also heartily endorsed the middle school concept and thought it was a good direction for the district to head.
“After being involved here for nine years,” he said, “this is pretty exciting for me.”
Washington Primary School Principal Scott Holland said, “Here at Washington School we are in full support of this consolidation proposal.” He said the goal of the proposal was to get more money directed towards the teachers and the educational programs with less spent on maintenance and operation of buildings.
High School Principal Dan Kimzey said that it made a lot of sense to locate the district’s athletic complex at the high school rather than trying to upgrade Haynes Field. He said it was a plus on the safety side to eliminate the commute to either Haynes Field or Corvallis. He said the improvements were needed to simply bring Hamilton up to par with other Class A schools.
“Right now we can’t even host a track meet,” said Kimzey.
He said the levy was needed as well.
“We’ve been cutting for years now and we just can’t cut anymore. We need the community’s help to maintain our current programs.”