Construction of new Centre Middle School on schedule

By SCOTT WRIGHT

CENTRE — A new Centre Middle School is finally about to become a reality. By this time next year, students in grades 5 through 8 will be learning lessons and eating their lunches in a state-of-the-art facility on Highway 411 just east of town.

It's been a long time coming.

“The slabs have been poured, the plumbing is in place and they are starting to work on getting up some of the walls,” said Superintendent of Schools Brian Johnson. “They are going up with the middle section of classrooms, administrative offices and the library first. The lunchroom will be the next phase and then the gym.”

Johnson said construction is on schedule and should be completed in time for students to begin the 2009-10 school year at the new campus. He said he believes students, teachers and parents will like what they find inside.

“The administration building will have a high-ceilinged atrium,” Johnson said. “From the front entrance, each grade will have a separate wing that emanates from the central office complex. The lunchroom is to the left of the main building, as seen from the highway, and the gymnasium is on the far right.”

Johnson and the Board of Education began over $18 million in construction and capital improvements after getting the approval of over 86 percent of the local electorate. The vote in 2007 allowed the county government to extend existing property taxes for an additional 30 years.

“That was what allowed this whole thing to happen,” Johnson said. “We found a safe way to pay for all these improvements without any sort of tax increase on the people of Cherokee County. We just extended what was already there.”

Johnson came up with the idea of combining and extending the existing taxes last spring after talking with financial planners about ways jumpstart years of stalled efforts at building a new school. The financial epiphany provided a guaranteed, long-term source of income from existing ad valorem taxes. Those guarantees in turn gave the Board of Education the borrowing power it needed to begin construction of the new middle school.

The Board will also be able to fund capital improvements at all of the other campuses in the county, Johnson said.

“We're working on a new gymnasium at Sand Rock and extensive expansions to existing gyms at Cedar Bluff and Cherokee County High School,” Johnson said. “The money will also be used for classroom additions and other expansions at Gaylesville and Spring Garden schools.”

Within months of the referendum's passage in August 2007, the Board of Education got to work. They borrowed $7 million by Dec. 31. The following year the Board acquired an additional $9.4 million.

“We were able to save money by borrowing the amount we needed over two years because of tax breaks involving bond issues of less than $10 million,” Johnson said.

The total from the two bond issues was $16.4 million. After the county spent $851,000 to upgrade its bus fleet, there was $15.6 million remaining for construction projects.

“We combined that amount with another $3.6 million we got from a one-time state bond issue that Alabama voters passed in 2006,” Johnson said. “We have also since received another $1.4 million ($802,280 in Fiscal Year 2009, and $689,200 in FY2008) from the state to be used for capital projects,” Johnson said.

The Board of Education also recently learned that because of the county's most recent property re-appraisal, the school system will receive an additional $1.1 million annually from its share of property tax collections. That money will more than cover the county's annual payment on the construction bond issue.

“We're using surplus funds to pay for this construction, funds that were provided by the rise in property values,” said Don Stowe, who sits on the Board of Education. “We have not had to and will not have to use any funds that already provide the other aspects of the county's education system.”

Johnson, a Democrat, said that during his reelection campaign this fall he's been fighting the rumor that somehow the Board of Education has gotten itself into financial trouble with the long-awaited construction projects. He said that rumor is absolutely untrue.

“Because of the increased property values since the last appraisal, we'll have enough revenue to more than meet our obligations,” Johnson said. “Financial monitors from the state Department of Education reviewed our books and said we're in as good or better shape than any school system in the state of Alabama.”

“We've been smart with our money and it is being wisely invested in our children's education,” Johnson said. “They are the future of Cherokee County and the state of Alabama.”

Editor's Note: Next week we expect to present an article featuring Mitchell Guice, the GOP candidate for superintendent.