Plans for new Wellington elementary move forward

By Gary Raham
Wellington Correspondent

Wellington will get a second elementary school, possibly by fall 2007, the Poudre School District Board decided on Jan. 23.

By buying property in December in The Knolls housing development--which already has roads and utilities in place--the district is saving some construction time. Jim Sarchet, assistant superintendent of business services, said that 2007 is a realistic date to open the new school, but the recommendation allows for completion as late as 2008.

The new school in Wellington is one of eight recommendations promoted by Superintendent Jerry Wilson that the board adopted. The board also agreed to build a new elementary school in the Timnath area east of Interstate 25. That school will open by fall 2007 or 2008.

Both areas getting elementary schools are expected to experience 50 percent growth in the next four years compared with the remainder of PSD, where population is expected to decline by 1 percent.

To finance construction, the district will issue $20 million in bonds, the last of the bond money approved by voters in November 2000. Wellington's new school will cost just over $11 million, Sarchet said.

The building will be modeled after the new Zach and Bacon elementary schools in south Fort Collins, according to PSD construction manager Ed Holder. Wellington area residents will be able to see the proposed plans at the Feb. 6 meeting of the town's planning commission.

Opening the new school will cost about $416,000, which includes personnel costs for principal, office staff, custodial staff and ground maintenance. "When schools are only half or two-thirds full," said Sarchet, "you lose some cost efficiencies."

Sarchet also reported that no school boundaries have been determined yet. He said the boundary committee will want close to a 50-50 mix of students from old and new housing in both schools.

Eyestone Elementary currently has 711 students enrolled. About 750 students are projected for next year, according to Sarchet. The PSD web site states, however, the most efficient elementary school serves between 425 and 525 students.

The decision to build in Wellington was conditioned on the town and PSD negotiating an intergovernmental agreement "that will collect a fee to support the land acquisition for schools comparable to agreements the district presently has with other municipalities." Previous town boards have resisted such an agreement because of the costs it adds to new housing. The town, however, worked successfully with PSD and developer Fred Ziegler on securing land on the south side of Wellington, and the board is nearing agreement on an IGA.

Sarchet said that impact fees collected through the IGA are based on the number of students per household and the cost of a piece of developed land. Impact fees currently range from $562 per new housing unit for Larimer County to $763 per new home in Fort Collins. The district has already determined that there are 0.34 elementary-age and 0.11 junior high-age students per home, so property valuation will be crucial to the calculation.

PSD will also appoint a task force to study the feasibility of asking voters in 2008 for a mill levy to provide money for operating schools. Operational costs at Eyestone in 2005, for example, which include the costs of teachers' salaries, utilities, books, supplies and special education, totaled $2,492,000.

PSD also wants to develop a system that allows funding to follow each student if he or she should elect to change schools. Currently, about one-third of PSD's students choose their own schools, which can cause funding inequities at some locations. When funding follows the student, each student is assigned a weighted dollar amount based on factors such as grade level, socioeconomic status, English language learner, or special education. When a student enrolls in a school, he or she would bring those resources to the school.

PSD has about 24,000 students in 45 schools. Its web site is www.psdschools.org.