TELL CITY — The new school year is approaching fast. Superintendent John Scioldo from the Tell City Troy Township schools came to speak at Kiwanis about the updates taking place with the schools and how school corporation finances work.
Scioldo said that when he first started, there was a lot of borrowing from the state but then they were capped. This meant that there was no more borrowing.
There are large circuit breaker losses that take away from the operations funds. The operation funds are used to do things like building repairs. He knew when he got in the position, it would take awhile to get to where the school corporation is now.
About five years ago, they started to see their debt start to fall off. They are now getting to the point where they can make repairs to the facilities. Every couple of years, they will now be able to spend from two to six million dollars to do a project on the school. This isn’t a ton of money, according to Scioldo.
They have structured the finances in a way that won’t put any burden on the citizens. The tax rates give the school a flat rate and will not fluctuate do to any repairs on the school.
“This board and I have worked hard to be frugal with the repairs so no tax payer will be burdened,” said Scioldo.
There are no real savings to be had. When they debt falls off, they will reissue the debt so there are still funds to spend and once again, doesn’t change the amount citizens of Tell City already pay out.
The school board did a facility study in late 2021. Scioldo said that this has been their bible to what they need to do. There is a hard copy available in the school for anyone who would like to see it.
COVID-19 and supply chain issues caused project plans to fix the elementary and junior/senior high school roofs to be pushed back. They have now started on those repair plans as of last November. The company they originally were going through dissolved. This caused them to go back to square one with company bids.
They are now with a company out of Ferdinand called UDA and are back on schedule. Scioldo realizes the importance of roof repairs at the elementary school. He stated that there has already been too much damage to classrooms and would like to avoid further damage. The most money will be spent on the now 25-year-old elementary school.
UDA said that the decking is not installed correctly and the damage had been taking place since day one of the roof being installed. Corners had been cut when it was put in and the original company went out of business, so there is no way to go back on it and have them right their wrongs. When the shingles were being pulled off they found that the nails were rusted through.
The brand new metal roof has an extended warranty. Scioldo said that this company is doing it right and the roof should out last his lifespan.
The high school will have roof repairs but won’t be as extravagant of a fix. The high school has spray foam. This doesn’t last more than 10 years. There are two options. They can do more spray foam and get another ten years or they can spend another six million to re-roof the high school. They are going with the full roof repair so that it will last and cost them less in the long run.
The school board had the floor in Brian Taylor sanded down. It is a white oak wooden floor. There are brand new designs and new logos. Scioldo said it looks sharp. They’ve also invested in the football field.
“The future is driven by the building assessment study … the next five to six years, it will be a really great place for our community to educate our students,” said Scioldo.
More repairs will be coming in the future. A part of the future plans are a new culinary classroom and there will be upgrades to the high school auditorium. They had to be patient to get to this point but he knows that it will be a great change for the community.