Tammy Curtis, Publisher, Managing Editor
Last Tuesday was the day many in Cave City had been anticipating. As the last ballots were counted at the Sharp County Courthouse on Tuesday. Nov. 18 for the Special Election, the Cave City School District learned that they would be getting a new elementary school. The school will be built at no additional millage cost to the taxpayers of the district. Voters in the Cave City School District voted 525 in favor and 97 opposed to maintaining the current millage to build the new school. The early and absentee votes were 29 in favor and 10 against.
This is just another wave of positive news for the Cave City School District, something that has been plentiful for Cave City in the last few years. Earlier this year, the Cave City School Board and Superintendent Steven Green began exploring ways to build a new and much needed 72,000-square-foot elementary school at no additional cost to taxpayers. The new campus, which will house kindergarten through fifth grade classes, has been estimated to cost between $25 and $27 million. The district sought to keep the 39 mills it is currently paying during this Special Election.
Cave City Superintendent Steven Green said, “We are truly grateful for the continued support of our patrons. Passing this millage enables us to secure the future of our school by providing safer and more modern facilities that will attract more young families to our community. The impact on our elementary students and staff will be tremendous. It will be a much better environment for teaching and learning. We at Cave City Schools are very thankful for community.”
Green said the district applied for a state partnership grant last October from the Arkansas Department of Education’s Academic Facilities and Transportation Division. Soon after, Tyrel Pace, Assistant Director of Facilities and Transportation, and a team visited the elementary campus to conduct a needs assessment. This past May, the district was notified that it had qualified for a $12.7 million state grant to support the project.
The buildings that will be replaced include the older portion of the elementary school, which was partially built in 1960. The historic gym, built in 1948, will not be torn down. The elementary safe room, kindergarten/preschool building, and the old radio station will also remain. The new elementary school will be built behind the current gymnasium on the high school campus.
The new campus is planned to be a state-of-the-art facility, featuring a secure single-entry system, a new safe room, and video surveillance, which will enhance the district’s safety protocols.
By being good stewards of the taxpayers money, the district was able to save a significant amount of money. Green said they have used ESSR funding to purchase buses, which would typically have been paid from operating funds, freeing up money that was transferred to the building fund. Since opening the new high school in 2007, the district has saved $6.1 million, which will be allocated toward the construction of the new school. This, coupled with the state grant, left an approximate $7.4 million deficit that would need to be funded. The thirty-nine mills that the district is getting and will maintain to build the new elementary school is actually below the state’s average of 39.21 mills.
By voting to continue the millage, the district can now begin the construction process. This Special Election had only this millage extension on the ballot. “We are so fortunate to be able to do this for our community without any millage increase. We really are,” Green explained.
Green said the newest playground on the current campus was constructed so it could be moved to the new campus. In a price comparison, Green noted that when the high school was built in 2006-2007, the construction cost per square foot was approximately $70. Currently, the building price is approximately $325 per square foot, with the new safe room costing around $500 per square foot. “It could be less, I hope so,” Green said,
Green emphasized in an earlier interview that the millage will remain unchanged, so that, other than future county appraisals, no additional new taxes will be added to Cave City School District taxpayers’ bills for the construction. If voters had failed to approve the 39 mills, the district would not have received the $12.7 million state partnership grant.
This news agency will follow up to confirm prospective bid dates and the start date.
