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The Elk Rapids Schools Board of Education approved, 6-0, ballot language for two separate proposals during a special meeting Monday, March 5.

Proposal One will ask for an estimated .22 mills, or 22 cents per $1,000 of taxable value, for five years to support an $840,000 technology project. Proposal Two will ask for an average of .11 mills, or 11 cents per $1,000 of taxable value, for eight years to support a $645,000 bus maintenance facility.

"Both proposals will address pressing matters for the district," district business manager Jeff Scroggins said Tuesday.

He said the pricetag on the facility went up from previous predictions after review of a final estimate from construction management firm Wolgast Corp. The $645,000 includes the building's cost plus bond and equipment costs, utility hook-up costs, and necessary architect and engineer fees, Scroggins said.

The board has discussed the two proposals at previous meetings, outlining what the technology project and facility will include. Scroggins said the district will further clarify the proposals on its Web site. He wants information to be "complete and detailed," he said.

If approved, the technology project will phase in new computers over four school years, or five years, beginning in 2007-08, district technology director Doug King said Tuesday. Money won't be spent all at once, and through the process old equipment will continue to be utilized, he said.

In a presentation to the board during its Jan. 29 meeting, King and technology specialist Bernie Johnson updated the school board on the district's current "state of technology" and where they see the district going in the next four school years. In that presentation, King said computers in the district are slowing down, which decreases effectiveness of staff, students and teachers. In addition, there just isn't enough equipment at the high school, he said.

On Tuesday, he said the newest computers in the district are the Freedom to Learn laptops at Cherryland Middle School that were state-funded in 2005. The Freedom to Learn program provided computers to each student in a grade-level at the middle school, and the bond would pay to continue to program for one year. After those laptops, the newest computers are from 2004, King said.

"We just have so much equipment in the district that is running on a shoestring," he said.

King and Johnson presented an updated version of the project during a Feb. 12 meeting, removing plans for a new phone system and instead using the funds to pay for a new high school computer lab and experiment monitoring systems for science classes.

Bus facility
Transportation supervisor Les Morden and maintenance and custodial supervisor Jack Howard made a presentation about the bus facility in early February, illustrating the "inadequate" building conditions the district's mechanic currently works under.

Using a PowerPoint presentation, Morden and Howard showed the board the poor working conditions that the district's mechanic, Tim Earl, works under at the current Kewadin bus facility. One photo in the presentation showed Earl working alongside a bus with about two feet between him and a wall. Another photo showed him working under a bus on the floor without any kind of lift to assist him.

Morden said the building was leased by the schools in 1980 when there were 16 busses in the fleet. Today there are 21 busses in the fleet. In 1980, the facility cost $200 to rent per month including utilities, but today the rental costs have jumped to $700 per month, not including utilities.

Other problems cited by Howard and Morden included the use of an air compressor manufactured in 1944 and the general lack of storage space. Earl's "office" is in the furnace room, where his paperwork continues to get peppered with soot, Morden said. One work stall forces other busses waiting for repair to sit outside in the snow, he added.

The new facility would be housed on the school property on the district's main campus, near the current bus corral.

Ballot language

Voters in the Elk Rapids school district will see two separate proposals on a May ballot.

One proposal will ask taxpayers to fund technology updates in the schools and the other will ask them to approve funding for a bus maintenance facility. The ballot language is as follows:

Proposal One
"Shall Elk Rapids Schools, Antrim, Grand Traverse and Kalkaska Counties, Michigan, borrow the sum of not to exceed Eight Hundred Forty Thousand Dollars ($840,000) and issue its general obligation unlimited tax bonds therefor, for the purpose of:

"acquiring, installing and equipping technology for school facilities; and partially remodeling, furnishing and refurnishing, equipping and re-equipping school facilities, in part, for energy conservation improvements?"

Proposal Two
"Shall Elk Rapids Schools, Antrim, Grand Traverse and Kalkaska Counties, Michigan, borrow the sum of not to exceed Six Hundred Forty- Five Thousand Dollars ($645,000) and issue its general obligation unlimited tax bonds therefor, for the purpose of:

"erecting, furnishing and equipping a bus maintenance and repair facility and developing and improving the site?"