What if the bond fails?

A question that has come up several times is, "What happens if the bond fails?" In the event the bond fails the district will need to take other measures in order to alleviate the over crowding at North Bend Elementary and Tiffin Elementary. At this point there is not a hard plan with Board of Education approval to deal with that possible reality. One of two scenarios to deal with the over crowding seem likely:

1. Beginning in 18-19 students could be bussed from North Bend Elementary to Clear Creek Elementary or Amana Elementary. Students would need to be bussed from Tiffin Elementary beginning in the 19-20 school year. It's likely that fifth grade students would be transported first, with fourth graders being added as dictated by available space at North Bend Elementary and Tiffin Elementary.

2. Another option would be to reconfigure the elementary attendance boundaries. In order to alleviate the overcrowding at North Bend and Tiffin Elementary Schools the Clear Creek Elementary boundary would need to be moved east, to include more students from Tiffin. At this time I do not know exactly where the boundary would have to be in order to move enough students to Clear Creek Elementary. The Tiffin Elementary Boundary would then need to be adjusted to bring in students from the current North Bend Elementary attendance area. That could mean bringing students from the northern part of North Liberty to Tiffin Elementary. Again, we would need to closely analyze the student numbers to ensure moving enough students to balance the attendance at North Bend and Tiffin Elementary Schools.

Neither of these options are ideal, and neither deals with the long term challenges of enrollment growth. These options also create increased expenditures from the general fund, especially option 1, with the increased bussing.

It's also important to keep in mind that if we utilize every classroom in Clear Creek and Amana Elementary Schools our elementary enrollment will still surpass capacity in the 2021-2022 school year. So, the district will be forced to add more classroom space by that time. Another consideration is that construction costs inflate at approximately 3% each year. So, the $36 million  of improvements proposed on the current bond would cost $38,192,400 in two years.

The increased student enrollment is coming to CCA. Without the facilities provided by the proposed bond one of these options will need to be utilized in the short term. The district will absolutely need to add increased classroom space by 2021-2022 for elementary students and the high school will surpass its capacity of 900 students in 2022-2023.

Sincerely,

Tim Kuehl, CCA Superintendent