The Allen Board of Education discussed bond issues September 10th at its regular meeting and will have the ability to put forward another bond issue to be voted on by residents in 2025, should it choose to do so.

However, Superintendent Jeff Hiatt said he and the school board have not decided if they are going to ask for one or not.

J.C. Leonard of Stephen H. McDonald & Associates attended the meeting to inform the board about where the school system is concerning the bond schedule.

The 2021 bond issue — used for transportation — will be coming off the books soon, so a new bond issue, if favored by residents, would not increase property taxes.

Leonard spoke about a bond from 2014, which was used for technology and transportation, and also the bond issue from 2017, which enabled the school system to construct a new gym, renovate and add classrooms to the junior high building and build more elementary- school classrooms.

Leonard explained that the 2017 bond issue was different from others as it is classified as “series financing.”

However, because the 2017 bond issue is series financing, the school system can continue to request single issue bonds.

“The last bond issue we did back in 2021 for transportation, that is about to be where it’s paid off and will go off the books ...” Leonard said.

That means the school system can put another bond issue before a vote of residents, if it chooses to do so.

“Before we got into that series bond (2017), basically, that’s what we would do,” Leonard said, “we’d vote a bond, and then once we came to the point where it was about to be paid off, we’d vote another one. Now that we’re in that series bond, based off growth rates and all that, we’ve still got debt to issue, but we have the ability to do other bonds within that time until it pays off.”

Leonard said if the board just wanted to replace the $420,000 bond that was voted in in 2021, the board could put forth before voters a $530,000 bond, which would not raise taxes, and could be used for a single issue, or a combination.

Bonds can be used for transportation, textbooks, technology equipment, building new facilities or repairing existing facilities.

Leonard indicated that, if the school had projects that would exceed $530,000, the school system is at a point where it could even ask for a new series bond.

Hiatt and the board did discuss the school system’s needs, saying transportation is always a big one, with an emphasis on school buses.

Additionally, it was also mentioned that the prices of school buses have nearly doubled in the last few years. Hiatt mentioned the most immediate need is a school bus which is equipped with a wheelchair lift.

Besides bus prices, there was also discussion about the high costs of new buildings. It was indicated that the days of simply constructing a building are gone, and that with school buildings today, an architect and fire marshal must be involved, and each building must have a safe room, all of which leads to higher costs.

Additionally, Leonard indicated that waiting until the 2017 series is paid off (2033) may result in paying higher building prices in the future.

“The problem is, if you wait to pay this off, if you’ve got a facility to build, you need to look at it, because (it’s not going to get any less expensive),” Leonard said.

Leonard cited a different school system of which the residents voted against building a new gymnasium in 2019 which would have cost $5.5 million. He said that gymnasium would now cost $9.5 million to build.

Test Results Allen Schools’ principals were on hand and presented the board with summaries of the 2024 test scores for the district, which showed improvement over last year’s results.

“I wanted to brag on our test scores this year, because we definitely had an improvement,” Hiatt said, “and I want my teachers to feel appreciated, and they need to feel appreciated, I thought they did a good job. We asked them to step up last year. There wasn’t everything positive about our test scores (last year) and they take it personal. And I felt they put the work in, and I just wanted to brag on them. And that’s why I asked (the principals, Steve Butcher and Amy Mayhue) to come and show you this data. Is it where we want to be? No, but it’s an improvement, and that’s all I ever ask from our staff. Let’s grow, let’s get better.”

Discussion Items Also in discussion items, Mary Pat Sappenfield, Federal Program Director at Allen Schools, was on hand to discuss the annual public Title 1 meeting to inform board, parents, community members of federal program information, discuss and make recommendations of supplemental services in the elementary program.

Title 1 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. It provides supplemental financial assistance to school districts for children from low-income families.

Its purpose is to provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable and highquality education, and to close educational achievement gaps by allocating federal funds for education programs and services.

“The majority of the funds that we have here at Allen Schools have been used to support an all-day prekindergarten program,” Sappenfield said, “the staff that are present in that program, as well as the staff and materials for the elementary computer media lab, also supports the federal programs director, a reading interventionist at the elementary, and it partially staffs an elementary school counselor. And once again this year, Allen Schools is partnering with Big 5, so they’re proving half of the funding for the pre-k staff. So, at this time, Title 1 just provides half of that funding.”

Consent Agenda

The board approved the consent agenda, which included the minutes of the August 12, 2024, Regular Meeting, and the Amended minutes of the July 9, 2024, Regular Meeting; the fiscal year 2024-2025 Purchase Orders/ Encumbrances: General Fund numbers 148 through 169 ($57,142.17); Building Fund numbers 30 through 33 ($13,774.38); Child Nutrition Fund numbers 35 through 36 ($2,564.29); and the Building Bond Fund number 2 ($14,550).

Please choose The consent agenda also included the

1.5” X 6.2” The board approved all action items, which included: - Adding the following sub-accounts to the Activity Fund: Cross Country, Class of 2027, Class of 2028, and Class of 2029.

- A resolution for a Community Facilities Grant with USDA for Ag trailer for $29,800.

- Participating in the Oklahoma State Department of Education Teacher Empowerment Program.

- The Chase Morris Emergency Cardiac Response Site Plan for the Junior High and High School buildings presented by the principal, Steve Butcher.

Executive Session

Upon returning from executive session, the board amended some contracts from the previous month, which had some errors in them; and also hired a new cafeteria worker, Annie Klassen.