ASHLAND — A school committee trudged through a proposed bond package Wednesday night, discussing what to cut from the district's wish list.

A $2 million high school athletic stadium was first to go from the list of projects the district will ask voters to consider. Also jettisoned was a $1.7 million proposal to convert Bellview Elementary School into an "extreme green," ecologically sensitive building. If approved, the 12-year bond would increase property taxes about $2 for every $1,000 of assessed property value in Ashland.

"Our dilemma right now is that we continue to have more needs than we have money," Ashland School District Superintendent Juli Di Chiro said.

Members of the district's Bond and Facilities Planning Committee chipped away at items on the proposal in an attempt to bring the total package cost from about $54 million down to about $47 million. The bond will be on November's ballot alongside another city tax measure — the youth activities levy — the committee was hesitant to put too much in the bond request.

"I think we could remove the stadium from the bond and give it to a booster club," committee member Kim Rooklyn said. "I would just hate to see a $2 million stadium project ruin the bond."

Advertisement

The committee suggested using Southern Oregon University's stadium, and spending money to remodel the school's historic gymnasium.

Since many of the district's schools are in need of repair, nearly half of the proposed bond is dedicated to health and safety improvements. The question facing the committee was whether districtwide repairs would make sense if schools must be rebuilt in the near future.

School board member Ruth Alexander said massive funds to keep repairing buildings might scare community members more that simple replacement of antiquated buildings.

"The criticisms I'm hearing from the community are, 'We just did that' or 'We just rebuilt that,'" Alexander said.

This week's meeting ended with fatigued members who decided to reconvene 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Ashland Middle School library. The committee will present its proposal to the school board for consideration in June.