The Fayette County School Board

will consider a number of options to raise the estimated $1.56 million

it needs to "top off" renovations and additions at McIntosh

High School, construction work it signed off on last week by awarding

a contract, even though it lacks the funding mechanism to finish the job.

In a called meeting Aug. 5,

the board spent well over an hour debating the addition of a new physical

education facility at the Peachtree City school, and whether it would

be followed by minor changes to the old gym or a complete overhaul that

would convert the cavernous space into a fine arts auditorium.

The new construction, which

will include expansion of the cafeteria, was priced at $7.7 million. The

finance department came up $1.56 short to build out the auditorium, however,

and school district staff recommended the final phase be postponed.

But at the same meeting, the

board was asked to sign off on a $3.6 million contract to build an auditorium

at Sandy Creek High, modeled after the Willie Duke Auditorium at the Starr's

Mill South Complex.

Fayette County High still has

first dibs on F.A. Sams Auditorium, though that facility is across the

road on the old high school campus. And when Whitewater High opens next

fall, it will also include a finished auditorium.

That left the possibility that

McIntosh, which opened in 1981, would be the only high school in Fayette

County without adequate performance space.

The desire among board members

to see each of the county's high schools with "equitable" facilities

ended up being the factor that drove their decision, beyond fears of the

economy

The board hopes time is on

their side. Because the old gym renovation is in the final phase of the

project, the work on retrofitting it won't start for nearly two years.

All the work is projected for

completion in 30 months, or February 2006, when the ninth graders who

started at McIntosh this week are halfway through their junior year.

That's a better option than

coming back a year or more beyond that to finally finish out the old gym,

board members agreed last week.

"I don't see how we can't

do this," said Board Member Greg Powers. "This is the last opportunity

we have to make these schools equitable, to put them all on a level playing

field.

In the grand scheme of funding,

Powers argued, the Board could find $1.5 million somewhere, even if it

has to come out of the district's $12 million reserve fund, though that

would be a last resort.

Other options include seeking

state grants for capital improvement projects on aging facilities, which

could divert local funds for routine maintenance or repairs to McIntosh.

Cutting back on replacing ceiling tiles, carpet or coats of paint on existing

buildings was another option offered.

Fayette schools have entered

into "Certificates of Participation" or COPS agreements in the

past to come up with capital funds in difficult times, but they carry

debt burden. Adding the project to a proposed 2004 school bond referendum

won't fly because of laws specific to the type of work voters approve

at the ballot box.

But the most likely scenario:

Sell off some of what you got. Powers recalled that the school board still

owned a chunk of land off Lester Road, near Cleveland Elementary, land

that was originally considered for a South Complex-type cluster of schools,

an idea that was later dismissed.

"We could probably sell

off that excess acreage there for $800,000, and then we'd only need $700,000,"

he said. "We can put it in next year's budget if we have to. We're

foolish if we don't take advantage of this."

Smola questioned the board's

obligation to the community, to avoid spending money it does not have

but also to take advantage of situations that might save money down the

road.

"If we obligate the taxpayer

without the taxpayers' permission, is that taxpayer going to support a

bond vote a year from now?" she asked. "Or do we have an obligation

to get the most for that taxpayer's dollar now?"

The McIntosh and Sandy Creek

additions, though not proposed as part of a $65 million bond referendum

approved by voters in 2000, nonetheless are the last in a string of major

projects to come as a result of that vote.

Nearly $81 million in work

will have been completed when this phase of school system expansion is

finished, Powers pointed out, thanks to interest earnings, lower construction

costs and overall good fiscal management by the district.

There's no reason to think

the same careful spending can't compensate for the $1.56 million needed

to complete McIntosh, money that won't be needed for another two years

anyway, Powers said.

That optimism was little comfort

to his fellow board members.

"This is the most difficult

decision I've made since I've been on this board," said Janet Smola

afterward. Added chairman Terri Smith, "This is the hardest I've

had to work."

And it was even less comfort

to the folks who have to find the money, and then figure out how to spend

it wisely.

System finance director Jim

Stephens, who has a reputation for fiscal conservancy, appeared visibly

shaken when the board finally agreed, by a reluctant 5-0 decision, to

proceed, without the cash.

"Does this worry you?"

Smola asked Stephens directly at one point.

"Yes, it does," he

responded.

Board member Lee Wright insisted

on close scrutiny of the projects, the costs and the funding mechanisms.

"If we proceed, I think

it's imperative we track this thing closely, that the finance and facilities

staffs stay in close contact," Wright said.

He was seconded by Marion Key,

who reluctantly voted for the McIntosh contract despite insisting she

did not approve of "spending money we don't have."

"If the costs don't come

in close to the bids or there are cost overruns, I want to know about

it ahead of time," she said, addressing school district staff. "I

don't want to have to come to a board meeting and find out on a memo about

this stuff. We need to know what's going on."

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