A contract bid for $60,782 approved by the Woodmore school board last week to repair the roof of the elementary school building is an example of the expenses the board and administration are trying to avoid and why a bond issue for a new building will be on the November ballot, Superintendent John Fernbaugh says.

He plans to meet May 23 with representatives of the Ohio School Facilities Commission to discuss the district’s options for leveraging OSFC funding for a new elementary building if voters approve a bond issue.

Craig Stough, an architect, will also attend the meeting at Fernbaugh’s request.

Woodmore voters in November 2009 rejected a 6.97-mill, 37-year bond issue that would have raised about $19.5 million for the construction of a new elementary school.

The total estimated cost of the project was about $25.9 million and the OSFC would have provided about $6.4 million.

A 0.5-mill permanent improvement levy, which was required by the OSFC to pay for maintenance costs for the new building,  was also on the ballot but the school board had agreed to discontinue collecting on 1-mill of an existing permanent improvement levy if the bond issue was approved, leaving a net increase of 6.47-mills.

School officials at the time said a new building was needed to replace the elementary school, which they described as in dire need of a new roof and boiler as well as extensive upgrades to the electrical system.

That situation is getting worse, according to the administration.

“We’re throwing good money into a bad building,” said Kevin Slates, district treasurer.

Woodmore was offered OSFC funding in 2008 for a new kindergarten through eighth grade building under what the OSFC calls its “exceptional needs program.”

“They weren’t able to raise their local share within the year prescribed by law, so they became what we term a ‘lapsed district,’ ” Rick Savors, a spokesperson for the OSFC said.

The meeting between Woodmore and OSFC personnel is for discussion only, he said. One option may be to revise a plan under the exceptional needs policy or wait until the district is eligible for funding under the commission’s classroom facilities program.

Fernbaugh said the district is eligible for OSFC funding of 32 cents for each dollar spent for a new building.

The school board, he said, hasn’t made any decision on a millage request but has a preliminary agreement to be on the November ballot.

Fernbaugh said he senses an energy among many district residents, evidenced by the passage earlier this month of a 3.95-mill, 5-year operating levy.

“I think we have a lot of momentum,” he said, but acknowledges “it’s a tough economy.”

Mosser Construction submitted the sole bid for repairing the elementary school roof, which will be paid by funds from a permanent improvement levy.

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