As noted on the agenda for tonight’s Decatur City Commission meeting, the Commission will hold a work session at 6:45p to discuss the City Schools of Decatur Facilities Master Plan.

Asst. City Manager Linda Harris describes the meeting as “an extension of the discussion of the request from the School Board for a bond referendum in November for the purpose of financing capital improvements.”

The commission needs to decide this month whether they will approve a bond referendum to expand Renfroe Middle and Decatur High School if they want to get it on the November ballot this year.

In an item on the School Board’s July 9th agenda titled – “Bond Referendum Date Move from November 2013 to 2014″, Superintendent Phyllis Edwards writes…

In June, the Board approved the request to send the Commissioners the request to approve for a referendum in November of 2013. At each discussion of the Master plan, the schedule was always discussed. The Commission would need to approve this request by August 5th in order to meet the various publishing in a legal manner and also meet other requirements. There is a 90 day requirement in place according to our Bond Attorney and legal counsel.

The plan to have the two entities meet in a worksession was hindered by calendar issues. The Commission according to our City Charter, must approve the request for a referendum. The concern raised is one of having the city understand the plan and the need in more details before asking them to vote. The difficult timeline has always been an issue.

If the bond referendum is placed in 2014, it will give the school system more time to share the information and facts with the citizens and the city leaders. There are certainly pros and cons to this discussion. Pros include the time to hold additional discussions and fully inform others; the ability to document this year’s projections against the actual enrollment ( we are at 96%) at this time; the ability to continue discussions with DOE relative to their formula for building the amount of necessary classrooms. The school system has a number of projects in the works for this school year including the start of planned construction of renovating the old gym into some instructional units and the completion of 8 classrooms at the 4/5 Academy; the reopening of Westchester for the 2014 year and the selection of a Principal for the school by the spring.

Naturally on the con side the loss of a year will mean that we will have to account for classroom spaces in other methods; such as portables for an additional year.

This is the largest request we plan to make of the citizens. The need is clearly apparent to those of us working in the school system but equally important to make sure that we inform as many others as possible.

h/t: Patch