Oktibbeha County School District is pursuing a $13.2 million-maximum bond issuance to facilitate construction needs ahead of July’s state-mandated consolidation.
The district filed legal notices on Dec. 22 stating its intention to generate funds “to aid in the process” of joining OCSD with Starkville School District after lawmakers authorized Conservator Margie Pulley to execute a bond issuance through a reverse referendum.
Pulley could not be reached by The Dispatch Monday, but the Commission on Starkville Consolidated School District Structure, a committee charged with developing solutions to facilitate the merger, previously called for $18 million from local and state levels to construct a new grades 6-7 campus and develop pre-kindergarten program at Mississippi State University.
OCSD’s legal notice does not identify how much of the $13.2 million the district would require for those two projects, but additional funding sources are likely to materialize during January’s legislative session.
David Shaw, MSU’s vice president for research and economic development who also served on the consolidation study committee, told The Dispatch earlier this month the university is attempting to raise $5 million to construct the grades 6-7 campus near the entrance to the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park.
Additionally, state Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus, who sits on the House Education Committee, said lawmakers are likely to open up the Mississippi Department of Education’s public school building fund as a revenue option.
Chism said the lawmaker who originally filed the Starkville-Oktibbeha County merger bill two years ago, state Rep. Toby Barker, R-Hattiesburg, is likely to file another piece of legislation that, if approved, will allow districts under consolidation mandates to have first crack at the public school building fund.
That stockpile, Chism said, has about $20 million in it, but school districts across the state are also looking for additional funding.
“We’re thankful we have a lot of people still in the conversation (in terms of additional funding sources),” Shaw said Monday.
A petition signed by 20 percent of registered Oktibbeha County voters, roughly 2,000 people, could force the bond issuance to the polls in 2015 if it is presented to the circuit clerk by noon on Jan. 13. If the matter goes unchallenged, Pulley will have full authority to issue the bonds.
The bond intent notice presents three debt service schedules that produce varying tax increases. If the county spreads debt payments across 15 years, an 18-mill property tax will be needed; that increase drops to 15 mills across 20 years and to 13 mills if OCSD utilizes a 25-year payment plan.
The figures were prepared assuming the entire $13.2 million is issued and that 1 OCSD tax mill brings in $65,000.
Only those residents within OCSD’s territory – not residents who live inside SSD’s extended territory inside and outside of Starkville – would be required to shoulder the tax increase’s brunt.
For fiscal year 2014-2015, supervisors approved a 111.88-mill operating budget that dedicated 55 mills for OCSD maintenance and 2.92 mills for school notes.
Pulley later increased the district’s bonding level to 3 mills to facilitate renovation projects at the two county elementary schools.
The merger study group’s original report to lawmakers asked for $9 million specifically to build the grades 6-7 school and up to $8 million for construction and operation of a joint MSU-school district pre-kindergarten facility and program. The commission also sought a five-year, $1 million funding stream for the pre-kindergarten program’s operation.
MSU aims to use the new facilities for instructional demonstration and teaching efforts that will not only advance Oktibbeha County and university students, but also teachers from across the state.
Officials previously said the MSU-consolidated school district partnership will allow the two entities to open the pre-kindergarten program to all 4-year-olds in Oktibbeha County, and the university is expected to expand Pre-K opportunities across the state by 2025.
“The Legislature recognizes that (because lawmakers forced the merger) it’s in everyone’s interest that consolidation is done well,” Shaw said in his original December interview with The Dispatch. “Education is absolutely key to growing the economy for the state. If we don’t get it right from the beginning, then nothing else matters.”
MSU has yet to develop site plans for the two facilities since funding is still a question mark, Shaw said earlier this month. Construction efforts could begin in 2015 if money issues are cleared up after the upcoming legislative session or in 2016 if local bonds are issued after a referendum.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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