[Speed Gibson,
Monday December 31, 2007 at 11:28pm]
District 281 Debt
There are two fundamental financial documents in the private sector, the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet. Most of my time will be spent on the former, which shows where the money comes in and where it was spent. In fact, my "Consumer" budget really only addresses the expense side.
But I'm clearly going to have to take a look at the Balance Sheet, too, which shows what you own and what you owe. District 281 owns a lot of old buildings. It owes somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million. To this casual observer, this appears out of balance.;
There are ten K-5 elementary schools, assuming as the 2008-09 budget did that Northport remains open. Forest (Crystal) was rebuilt in 2005. Next newest is Zachary Lane (Plymouth), built in 1969, 38 years old. Noble (Golden Valley) is the oldest, built in 1954, over 50 years old. Granted some additions were done later to most of them, but it doesn't appear very significant or very recent. Lakeview (Robbinsdale) and Pilgrim Lane (Plymouth) are both their original size and both are over 40 years old.
It strikes me that the District has under-invested in facilities. The situation at the secondary level is comparable. I'd feel better if we at least owned these buildings free and clear, but it would appear not. We have $200 million or so to pay off on an aging portfolio of buildings.
I'm getting ahead of myself, but a "vision" for a vibrant District should include replacement of these buildings. For now, let me postulate that the useful life of an Elementary school is 50 years. We have 10, so we should be rebuilding one every 5 years. Instead, we're looking at closing one or more, and making modest repairs to some of the others. Oh, and we still have that $200 million to repay.
But I'm clearly going to have to take a look at the Balance Sheet, too, which shows what you own and what you owe. District 281 owns a lot of old buildings. It owes somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million. To this casual observer, this appears out of balance.;
There are ten K-5 elementary schools, assuming as the 2008-09 budget did that Northport remains open. Forest (Crystal) was rebuilt in 2005. Next newest is Zachary Lane (Plymouth), built in 1969, 38 years old. Noble (Golden Valley) is the oldest, built in 1954, over 50 years old. Granted some additions were done later to most of them, but it doesn't appear very significant or very recent. Lakeview (Robbinsdale) and Pilgrim Lane (Plymouth) are both their original size and both are over 40 years old.
It strikes me that the District has under-invested in facilities. The situation at the secondary level is comparable. I'd feel better if we at least owned these buildings free and clear, but it would appear not. We have $200 million or so to pay off on an aging portfolio of buildings.
I'm getting ahead of myself, but a "vision" for a vibrant District should include replacement of these buildings. For now, let me postulate that the useful life of an Elementary school is 50 years. We have 10, so we should be rebuilding one every 5 years. Instead, we're looking at closing one or more, and making modest repairs to some of the others. Oh, and we still have that $200 million to repay.