By Carol Reeves
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 12:00 am
The Corvallis School Board voted unanimously Monday night to allow the Muddy Creek Charter School to move into the former Inavale School.
A handful of parents and the new school's director, Kathleen Westly, who were present for the vote expressed relief that a decision had finally been made. But they indicated several details still must be worked out.
"We're thrilled, but there's still a ways to go to get this deal settled," said Anita Grunder.
Charter school organizers must still negotiate with the district how it will meet a "neutral-cost" clause in the proposed lease. The school district has estimated it will cost $2,031 a month to make needed repairs, pay for insurance and cover regular maintenance at the rural school closed in 2006. The Muddy Creek budget currently allows only $1,700 for rent.
School leaders will seek grant money, alternative means of helping with improvement costs and more parent involvement to help make up the difference, Grunder explained.
"We're quite hopeful this is going to work out. We already have a lot of parent equity invested," she said.
In the meantime, the school will continue to add to the two dozen students already enrolled and will begin hiring teachers in April. An open house for families interested in the rural school's program for kindergarten through fifth grade will be in March.
The school is slated to open in September.
In other business, school board directors discussed a new long range facilities master plan developed by a committee of community experts and district staff to replace the district's 2002 facilities plan.
Business manager Kathy Rodeman presented the plan as a new look at the district's needs over the next 10 to 20 years now that phase one of the original plan has been completed. The construction levy approved by voters in 2002 helped fund the construction of the new Corvallis High School, the merger of two middle schools into the new Linus Pauling site and major renovations to Crescent Valley High School.
The board will be asked to vote at its March 10 meeting on whether to implement a construction excise tax approved by the 2007 Oregon Legislature. The tax gives school districts across the state the authority to tax new residential and non-
residential development in order to raise funds for capital improvement projects.
The tax would be $1 per square foot on residential construction and 50 cents per square foot on non-residential construction, not to exceed $25,000 per building permit or $25,000 per structure, whichever is less, according to the Oregon School Boards Association.
If the board approves the excise tax, directors must then seek the cooperation of city and county building departments to enact the tax. The board also must formally adopt the new facilities management plan before the tax would go into effect.
The school board also discussed the upcoming budgeting process for the 2008-09 school year and reviewed an initial list of priorities developed by the district's administrative staff.
The priorities included commitments to: 1) hiring and maintaining quality staff; 2) addressing class size in core subjects and the individual learning needs of students; 3) applying consistent learning standards between all schools and subject areas; 4) allowing teachers to customize instruction to meet the needs of all students; and 5) using long-range fiscal planning to stabilize the district against future funding changes.