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In another mammoth meeting the Lansing Board of Education (BOE) voted on the first cuts in an attempt to begin to define the scope of the Phase II Capital Improvement project. The multi-million dollar project includes new classrooms, improvements to the campus traffic patterns and parking and renovations to the facilities. With many of the elements affecting the others, the Board struggled to whittle down the project so it will produce the most State aid while reducing the taxpayers' share as much as possible. The idea was to make the red parts of the project green. This meant juggling the pieces to maximize State aid. Even so the project could add over 10% to the current school tax, depending on what ends up in the project.

Soon-to-be Superintendent Mark Lewis proposed that an ad-hoc citizen's committee be formed to review the district's need and to respond to the project as it stands so far. Such a committee would give the BOE an advanced idea of what part of the project would appeal to taxpayers and what they would not accept. The BOE would use this feedback to adjust the final scope of the project, hoping for an increased chance that it will be accepted in a referendum that is tentatively scheduled for April of 2006.

Meanwhile the board voted on which elements to pare from the project, and which to keep in. Anticipating that committee members and other residents will want to know the cost as part of their decision making process, the BOE wants to define a scope for the project so it can be priced. While this will not be the final makeup of the project, it will allow architects and project planners to calculate the price and how much of it will be eligible for State aid.

Dr. Rick Timms, who has been working with financial advisor Bernard Donegan, explained the labyrinthine aid requirements to the assembly. He said that as the BOE decided what to include each element would have to meet two tests: 1) is it aidable? and 2)what maximum cost allowance will the State permit? The state allows more aid for classrooms and new construction than they do for additions and some kinds of construction. This means it is better to include "aidable" construction, even when you want to build something that doesn't qualify. But the State also caps aid, so you have to balance the different categories of items when calculating the actual total of money you are eligible to receive from the State.

Next the BOE voted to create the committee suggested by Dr. Lewis. They will try to get a cross-section of residents who live in the school district, including those who do not have children in the schools, those on fixed incomes, families whose children are in school and others who will be affected by the proposition. The first meeting will be an open one, scheduled right after the holidays on January 5.

With a loaded agenda, the BOE voted on more than 20 separate elements, discussing many of them before voting. The board was split on some of the items, but voted to include the core project, some traffic flow adjustments, a heating system for the High School, new science rooms in the High and Middle schools, a new technology wing and many others. These things will make up the main proposition that will go before voters. A second proposition will ask taxpayers to decide whether they want to add a new auditorium onto the High School. The BOE voted to put forward an 800 seat auditorium which would cost less than the thousand seat option that was also on the table. They put off a vote on a third proposition that would fund a new telephone/security system.

There was much concern about the level of communication the BOE has had with the public on this issue. The ad hoc committee will be the first step in addressing it in a concerted effort to get the public on board with the project.

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