Current high school bond is about double the 2003 proposal

By OLIVIA KOERNIG / Whitefish Pilot

When Whitefish residents open their mailboxes on March 7 and find the high school bond ballots inside, they may experience deja vu. And rightly so. After all, it was about five years ago that a different bond placed Whitefish High School's future in voters' hands and pocketbooks.

But many voters may have difficulty sorting out the differences between the $10.375 million high school bond proposal of 2003 and the $21.5 million bond proposal today.

"They kind of went back to the drawing board," school board trustee Pat Jarvi said. "We finished the middle school and started over with the high school."

Yet even with five years and $10 million between the two bonds, the crux of the issue is the same.

"Our academic concerns are to make sure the facility offers the utmost in academic potential," Jarvi said. "And even though enrollment has declined, the building is still overcrowded."

Today, the 107,503-square-foot building houses 595 students spread out into 46 classrooms. The 29 students of Whitefish Independent High School attend a different campus. That means each student at the high school essentially occupies 180 square feet of learning space, or 13 students per classroom.

To gain perspective on the amount of space the students are using, contrast it with Glacier High School in Kalispell. Glacier sprawls across 242,665 square feet and was designed to accommodate 1,200-1,400 students.

At the low end of the enrollment spectrum, Glacier affords 202 square feet per student and 173 square feet at maximum capacity. Glacier has 57 classrooms and facilitates classes in the 21-24 student range.

Still, comparing the square footage of an old high school with that of a new one doesn't tell the whole story. The narrow hallways and skimpy classrooms comprising Whitefish High School bear little resemblance to the expansive interior at Glacier. Moreover, since gymnasiums occupy a hefty chunk of space, smaller schools tend to suffer skewed gross square footage averages.

Skewed averages or not, some local voters feel the bond campaign being presented to Whitefish voters amounts to a fleecing.

"They're trying to build a Taj Majal at the expense of taxpayers," said Phil Mitchell.

Mitchell, a 30-year Whitefish resident, resigned from the school board last year. He said he would support a bond in the $14 million range, which he believes would more accurately reflect rising construction costs. Instead, he thinks the price tag on the current bond proposal has swelled due to an increased bonding capacity.

"When you have a credit card, do you max it out?" Mitchell asked.

In 2003, the high school's bonding capacity was $12 million. Today, the high school's bonding capacity is more than $22 million. The 2003 bond proposal would have cost taxpayers a little more than $15,000 per student. The 2008 proposal will cost around $31,000 per student, based on the 10-year average enrollment of 687.

"This is an ambitious project, but nothing has been done for a long time," Jarvi said. Asked whether the proposal is the most cost-effective solution, she answered, "That's always debatable. There may be a less cost-burdensome way around it."

The 2003 bond proposal called for a 148,778-square-foot building when completed, including 41,275 of new construction. Using the 10-year enrollment average, that would have allowed 216 square feet per student.

By comparison, the 2008 proposal would increase the school's total square footage to 163,848, with more than half of that in new construction. The proposed project provides nearly 240 square feet per student.

Principal Kent Paulson said the plan will keep the same number of classrooms and expand them or reassign usage. For example, there are currently three computer labs. The proposal calls for seven computer labs, which is the same number Glacier supplies for nearly twice as many students.

Asked if the district is projecting enrollment spikes in the coming years, school district clerk and business manager Danelle Reisch said no.

"I think we're anticipating enrollment being fairly level," Reisch said. "The proposed construction isn't designed to house a whole lot more kids."

With such a wide range of gross square footage per student, even within the two bond proposals, what is considered normal? According to John Eisen, Montana's officer with the Council of Educational Facility Planners, International (CEFPI), when it comes to designing a school, "normal" is a relative term. Eisen said that in his 45 years as an educational facilities planner, he's seen numbers all over the map.

"There are no mandates," said Eisen, who also works at JGA Architects in Billings. "It's really based on how the teachers teach and how much space that requires. Then the reality of budget comes crashing down like an avalanche."

To gauge how the Whitefish bond proposal stacks up against the rest of the nation, consider the following figures from CEFPI's 2006 Annual Construction Report.

For gross square footage per student, the Whitefish proposal falls in line with the top 10 percent of new high schools in the nation. When compared against high schools with less than 800 students, the Whitefish proposal is nearly 70 square feet per student above the national average of 169 square feet per student.

But CEFPI cautions that the figures in its report are provided as "an opportunity to compare" and are "meant as an indicator not a arbiter." Eisen concedes the point.

"It's impossible to put it into black-and-white terms," he said. "You have to sort out needs and wants and how you allocate space within the context of budget."

To learn more about CEFPI, visit online at www.cefpi.org.