There has been a lot of discussion about the Klamath County School District (KCSD) and how its money has been spent for maintenance projects. With bond measure 18-91, a fiscally conservative county, and schools needing help, it’s a discussion that’s been needed.  However, some of the numbers on what the KCSD spends may be skewed in a way that is misleading.

Out in the public, folks are being told that the Klamath County School District has spent “$100 million” over the last five years, and that in ten years we will be looking at the KCSD having spent “$1 billion on the schools”.  Undoubtedly, that is a lot of money!

Where the “$100 million” came from is a mystery.  The folks who are floating that number admit to lumping the City and County School Districts together, but it cannot be the real maintenance budget for the Klamath County School District for the last five years which is closer to $10 million and when broken down, is a little over $2 million a year.  And that’s for 19schools, in a school district that’s one of the largest in terms of area covered.  So, what do the real maintenance numbers look like?

In that same five year time span, the money the Klamath County School District spent on capital improvements was $17 million.  If you combine both capital improvements at $17 million with the $10 million in maintenance, you only get $27million!  Now you may be asking, “What’s the difference between maintenance and capital improvements?  Aren’t they same?”

Routine maintenance, or preventative maintenance, is part of the on-going care and upkeep of any building. It includes tasks like changing various filters, painting, minor equipment change-out, caulking, sealing, minor repair of various components, and other activities that are planned and performed at regular intervals to extend the life or prevent the premature failure of building components or equipment.

If you want to talk about the Klamath County School District’s budget in general, which perhaps is part of where the misleading $100 million figure is coming from, the general fund budget from 2012-13 was about $55 million.  The bulk of that comes from state and federal  support. Virtually all of that funding is used for the day-to-day costs of educating the district’s 6,100 students at 19 different school facilities scattered across the largest geographic school district in Oregon.  Yes, you read that correctly – the largest geographic school district in Oregon.  Not several small school districts with their armies of administrators, but one large school district with 6,100 students, 19 facilities,  one set of administrators, classified staff and 320 teachers.

But what else does that $55 million pay for?

A cost comparison of FY 2012 to FY 2013 at Bonanza Schools. Courtesy of Klamath County School District.

With Klamath County School District bond measure 18-91, we hope to secure funding to not only build Henley Elementary a new, proper school, but also perform various maintenance projects and upgrades.  In our last blog post, we highlighted (pun unintended!) the potential savings that upgrading the lights in 11 Klamath County Schools would bring.  However, there’s another system upgrade that will bring more savings.

If you look at our Proposed Projects page, you will see that four schools are slated for heating system upgrades (five if you include Mazama High School’s control system upgrade).  Sure, it’s easy to argue that obviously updating a heating system will save a few bucks, but how much money will it really save?  And are those new systems really going to help the KCSD save any meaningful amount of money?

The answer lies in Bonanza Schools.

Last year, Bonanza Schools underwent a complete overhaul of the heating and cooling system.  The school featured 75-year-old diesel fueled steam boilers to heat and cool the buildings.  There were leaking pipes, which made rooms both too hot and too cold in the same day with other pipes threatening to fail.  Not only was the old system inefficient, with the rising cost of fuel, it was also expensive to operate.

As a result, the Klamath County School District had the old boiler system replaced with an energy efficient, electric HVAC system in the old building while the newer building’s system was retrofitted with upgrades.  The new HVAC system heats water from an onsite well which returns the water underground after it has ran through the pipes.  To ensure the system would continue to function if the power goes out, a propane powered back up boiler was installed as well.

Aside from making Bonanza Schools more comfortable to learn in with cleaner air to breath, in the last year it has saved the Klamath County School District a lot of money.  How much?  So far, in FY 2013, the new HVAC system at Bonanza has saved KCSD $145,700.

Yes, $145,700.  And the year isn’t over yet.

Not only that, Bonanza Schools, with the oldest standing school (built in 1935), has just received its Energy Star Certification.

Now, imagine if Chiloquin High School, Ferguson Elementary School, Peterson Elementary School and Stearns Elementary School – some of the older building in the Klamath County School District – received similar heating systems upgrades.  There is the potential to save a lot of money for the school district, which in turn can be used for the upkeep of the 18 facilities under its watch.

The citizens of Klamath County, with some of the lowest tax rates in the state, pride ourselves on being fiscally wise.  With that in mind, we need to pass Klamath School Bond 18-91.  Not only does it fix roofs and floors and provide a new school for Henley Elementary, it will save KCSD a lot of money in the long run.

Information and graph courtesy of the Klamath County School District.

Klamath County School District bond measure 18-91 will provide real savings. Information courtesy of the Klamath County School District.

When discussing ballot measure 18-91, some Klamath County citizens focus only on the school being built for Henley Elementary and then voice concerns about the long-term effect on maintenance and spending the money wisely.  Those are valid concerns, and the answer to those questions and concerns lie in the projects themselves.

When you visit our Proposed Projects page, you’ll see that 11 schools will receive lighting system upgrades.  Why do the lighting upgrades matter?  For starters, some of the schools have poor lighting with bulbs that are in the process of being phased out nationwide.  Aside from making it easier for kids to read and see better in the hallways, these lighting upgrades represent an estimated annual savings of over $95,588.  Yes, nearly $100,000 in savings.

The estimated cost of installing new lighting systems in these 11 schools is $1,898,473.  Power costs for these schools in FY 2012 ran the Klamath County School District $403,900.  If bond measure 18-91 passes and the lighting upgrades are installed, power costs are estimated to only be $308,312 –  a 23.7% reduction from 2012 power costs.  That means these lights will pay for themselves before the bond measure is paid off.

If the citizens of Klamath County are serious about being fiscally conservative, we need to look at how we can start saving money.  One of the ways we can make our schools more sustainable (and safe!) is by looking at how our money is spent, seeing if there’s a way to save money and then making intelligent investments in those solutions.  Looking at the numbers provided by the Klamath County School District, these lighting upgrades are one of the solutions and investments we need to make.

Source of the graphic and the numbers are courtesy of the Klamath County School District.  You can download a full, 12 month cost for the 11 schools version here.

An example of the facts presented by Mr. Holliday

In support of the Klamath County School District bond measure 18-91, Ray Holliday, our spokesman, and others have been meeting with various groups in the community to present why now is a good time for fixing our schools and to answer questions folks have.  Part of his talk is a very in-depth PowerPoint presentation that gives the groups the facts about our Klamath County schools, how the money is spent and why we need this bond measure passed.

From facts like the Klamath County School District serves the same number of students as served by Roseburg and Grants Pass schools but with twice the buildings and the same budget to figures on how the bond measure will affect your taxes, this slide show covers it all.  It even has pictures of the problem points in some of the schools as well as a donated rendering of what the new Henley Elementary School could look like!

If you have any questions or want more information about bond measure 18-91, we encourage you to take some time to go through the slide show.  It’s very informative, straight foward and will likely answer questions you have.  Just click the following link – KCSD Bond Measure 18-91 Presentation – and you can check out a PDF version of slide show!

And as always, if you have any questions about the Citizens for Klamath County Schools PAC or bond measure 18-91, feel free to send us an email.  Also check out our Information and Downloads page for more information about 18-91.

Remember to have your ballot turned in by May 21st!