Tiger Insights: Tiger Vision: a work in progress

 There are a few things that we can learn from a recapitulation of events as we move forward on Phase 1 of the Red Oak Schools improvement, or Tiger Vision II.  Some of the past work and decisions and their relationship to where we are today can make clear the next steps. The following is a brief synopsis of the sequence of events leading to the decisions recently made to move forward with the current building plans.

About three years ago, the district went through a Department of Education (DOE) facilities review where several deficiencies were noted. The Red Oak Community School board made the decision that the most immediate issues needed to be remedied; however, a more comprehensive plan needed to be completed for the rest of the items. In order to understand the breadth of this work and the costs, the board authorized the selection and hiring of an independent contractor to look at the condition of our current facilities and give expert advice on remediation. The results of that study revealed work that would cost the district in excess of $15 million which needed to be done to bring our buildings up to current DOE criteria. This work would not change the current learning environments.

Subsequently, the school board decided to look at what options the community wanted, since money needed to be spent on the current facilities;
perhaps a different option would better serve the district. The board then selected an architect, BLDD, to help with this part of the decision process. Public meetings were held at three of the district schools, and 18 options were compiled for addressing  district needs. Attendance at these meetings was less than the board wanted, so another approach to get more input was implemented and Tiger Vision was created. 

Prior to starting Tiger Vision, the board implemented budget changes which freed up the sales tax dollars, allocated from the state-wide sales tax, to be used for facility improvements that were going to be needed as a result of the Tiger Vision/ community recommendation. These budget changes lowered the overall property tax levy and prepared the district financially for some of the work needed. In addition, since the initial work would come out of sales tax dollars and PPEL funds, the taxpayers in the district would not see an overall levy increase from the district. All this was done in several open meetings to which the public was invited.

Tiger Vision then completed its steering committee meetings, community engagement meetings and with the input from many community members gave a report to the board recommending a two- campus system. This recommendation was focused into a package that fit within the financial constraints that the state and our district operation would allow. The board then made the decision to use the sales tax dollars and PPEL first to fund Phase I of the project in part because there is currently a legislated “sunset” on the sales-tax funding, and by doing this there would be no additional tax burden on the district taxpayers. Further, both the sales tax dollar and PPEL use were previously approved by the district taxpayers for this purpose. With this in place, the board voted to approve a budget which lowers the tax levy for the district taxpayer, allows for the first phase of Tiger Vision to be completed and leaves operating monies in place to continue operating the district.

In the end, the decisions were made in open meetings and workshops, where input from all district patrons was invited. In addition, the decisions were a progression of thought and discernment, based on the best information available and with public input.

Respectfully submitted, 

Paul Griffen 

ROCSD Board Member

The Red Oak Express

2012 Commerce Drive
P.O. Box 377
Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-623-2566 Fax: 712-623-2568

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