Fox C-6 Board of Education members are expected to vote next month on whether to put a $48 million bond issue on the April 7 ballot.
On Dec. 16, school board members asked Superintendent Paul Fregeau to draft ballot language for the next meeting after he shared responses the district received from students, staff and community members about how potential bond money should be spent.
The board is scheduled to meet next at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, at the Fox C-6 Service Center, 849 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold. The last day for governmental entities to place bond issues or other measures on the ballot is Jan. 27. The last day to register to vote in the election is March 11.
Fregeau told the board that Fox C-6 held more than 30 stakeholder meetings, including sessions with students and staff at district schools and five community meetings held in October and November at Fox C-6 middle schools and in December at the Arnold Recreation Center.
“What was neat was the presentation evolved as we got feedback from people attending, and we tried to improve it to provide as much information as possible,” he said.
If the board votes to place the bond issue on the April ballot and voters approve it, the money would be used to pay for capital improvement projects, like repairing and replacing roofs, HVAC units and asphalt parking lots throughout the district. He also said money would be spent on increasing security measures and possibly paying off lease agreements early.
Fregeau told the board that nearly 700 people completed surveys during meetings, and 715 filled out an online survey to rank bond-issue projects.
Those who filled out surveys were asked to rank what building projects – roofs, HVAC units or projects – they believe Fox C-6 should address with bond money. They also were asked what security measures they believe are most important to add or improve, such as a rapid incident response system; lockdown-capable classroom doors; safety-enhanced exterior door access; additional surveillance cameras; improved fencing and gates; and security film for building windows.
According to board documents, those who attended meetings ranked repairing and replacing HVAC units as the top priority, with 49.82 percent of the vote. Roof projects were second, with 38.89 percent, and asphalt projects received 11.21 percent of the vote.
Those who filled out online surveys also ranked HVAC improvements as the top priority, with 41.82 percent of the vote. Roofs received 34.97 percent of the vote, and asphalt projects received 23.22 percent.
“We have some pretty clear direction if you look at the percentages there on what our community wants us to prioritize if we pursue a bond issue,” Fregeau said.
For safety improvements, those who attended meetings ranked a rapid-incident response system as the top priority, with 30.29 percent of the vote. Lockdown-capable classroom doors were listed as the top priority by 28.7 percent, followed by safety-enhanced exterior door access (19.28), additional surveillance cameras (10.72), fencing and gates (7.25) and security film (5.07).
Those responding to the online survey favored lockdown-capable classroom doors as the top priority, with 29.93 percent listing that at No. 1. Safety-enhanced exterior door access was second, with 20.44 percent listing it as the top priority, followed by rapid-incident response system (16.44), additional surveillance cameras (14.81), fencing and gates (10.07) and security film (8.3).
By using the responses from the meetings and surveys, Fregeau said the district is showing community members that it is listening to them and wants to spend money on what they feel is most important to improve Fox C-6.
“There’s a narrative out there sometimes that I have had to battle and that we’ve had to battle that we’re not listening,” he said. “There are not preconceived notions. If there were preconceived notions, I would have put fencing and gates and security film much higher. I thought those would be higher, but our community told us those are lower. We want to respond to what they think is important and not what I or we think is important.”
Those who filled out the online survey were also asked if they would vote for the potential bond issue. The question was not asked during the in-person meetings.
According to board documents, 75 percent of people said they were extremely likely to vote yes on the bond issue, and 14 percent said they were somewhat likely to vote yes.
“That’s about 89 percent of the people extremely likely or somewhat like to approve it,” Fregeau said. “That was exciting.”
If a bond issue were placed on the April 7 ballot, it would require a four-seventh (57.14 percent) vote for approval.
The potential bond issue would not require a tax increase. However, if approved, the district’s debt service levy would be extended once the new bonds are sold.
Fox C-6 has an overall tax levy of $4.1867 per $100 assessed valuation, with the debt service levy accounting for 39.01 cents of that. Debt service levy funds are used to pay district debts.
Chief operating officer Tracy Schmidt said the Fox district currently owes $47,024,963.40 for general obligation bonds and $6,225,000 for lease agreements. The general obligation bonds are projected to be paid off in March 2041, and the lease agreements are expected to be paid off in March 2028.
If voters approve the $48 million bond issue in April, the school district’s general obligation bond debt would not be paid off until 2046, Schmidt said.
Fregeau has said Fox C-6 could use some of the bond money to pay the $6,225,000 lease agreement earlier, which would allow the district to then ask voters to approve moving 19 cents from the debt-service levy to the operating levy, which would make that 19 cent tax permanent and allow the district to use it for purposes other than paying off its debt.
Fregeau said if the board votes to place the bond issue on the ballot, the district plans to meet with community members in February and March to provide more information.
“We will give them an idea how much each area will cost,” he said. “I think we will have good, detailed information when we meet with our public on where we will be spending the dollars.”