Possible bond issue for Maize schools totals $74.3 million

An updated list of proposed bond projects for Maize schools totals $74.3 million, including an expansion of Maize Middle School, an aquatic center and nearly $14 million in athletic upgrades.

Maize Superintendent Doug Powers said school board members could decide next month whether to put the bond issue to voters this summer. It could be decided by a special election or mail-in ballot, he said.

The bond plan has changed some since a year ago, when a committee presented its top priorities for facilities needs. Leaders have ruled out building a third middle school, opting to expand and renovate Maize Middle School instead, for an estimated $18.5 million.

They also opted to include $8.9 million worth of roof repairs and infrastructure upgrades, including adding a two-story lobby, concessions and restrooms to the Maize South High gymnasium.

Adding $6 million worth of roof projects to the bond issue would allow the district to replace aging roofs rather than continue patching them using money from the capital outlay budget, which is about $3 million a year.

“We’ve done all kinds of things to defer maintenance and try to preserve dollars in hopes that finances get better,” Powers said. “And we’re not in that spot.”

An updated list of proposed projects and cost estimates presented to board members this week includes:

▪ Renovating and expanding Maize Middle School by about 40,000 square feet, increasing its capacity to 900 students, for about $18.5 million.

▪ An $11.8 million aquatic center with seating for 750. The natatorium would include a nine-lane, 50-meter pool, concession area, restrooms and locker rooms and would be designed as both a school and community resource.

▪ Nearly $14 million in athletic improvements and upgrades throughout the district. Projects include new press boxes, locker rooms, all-weather turf fields, scoreboards, ticket booths, fencing and seating, including 1,000 new seats at the Maize South High stadium and 500 seats at the Maize High soccer field.

▪ An $8.3 million Career and Professional Center at Maize High.

▪ A new Early Childhood Center designed to accommodate 300 preschoolers and the district’s Parents as Teachers programs, estimated at $6.7 million.

▪ A new transportation facility for the district’s 110 buses and vans, with lifts and other equipment, estimated at $4.2 million.

▪ And a Federal Emergency Management Agency-approved storm shelter at Maize High, which would cost about $1.8 million.

Maize board members discussed the list of projects at their meeting last Monday. Talks “started out very conservative at the beginning of the discussion,” Powers said.

But by the end, “We’d circled our wagons all the way back around to where we started, and we like all of it,” he said.

Powers said the bond issue would translate to about 5.6 mills – a property tax increase of about $65 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home.

Bond issues tend to garner plenty of support in Maize, a district of about 7,000 students that includes much of west Wichita. Since 1977, voters have approved six bond issues worth $120 million.

The district’s last bond issue – nearly $60 million in April 2007 – financed Maize South Middle School, converted an existing middle school to Maize South High, built a new elementary school and expanded others.

Maize leaders still are grappling with how and whether to change the way it assigns students to schools. A representative with RSP Associates, an Olathe-based consulting firm, presented preliminary boundary options Monday and will meet with board members again during a workshop March 2.

During their regular meeting March 9, board members are likely to consider student placement as well as whether to put the proposed bond issue to voters, Powers said.

This story was originally published February 14, 2015 at 1:03 PM with the headline "Possible bond issue for Maize schools totals $74.3 million."