The Provo School District has proposed a $35 million bond to be used to for various construction projects at schools throughout the district.

Two of the major projects include tearing down and rebuilding Timpanogos Elementary, as well as building a new school in northwest Provo's Lakeview area.

Seven of the 13 elementary schools in the district need to be either replaced or renovated, said Darryl Alder, a member of the Provo Board of Education.

The board also proposed a $1.5 million leeway to be used to fund ongoing projects in the school district such as heating and lighting costs, costs of building the new school and giving teachers a small raise.

"We're just way behind," Alder said. "We haven't given raises in two or three years."

Other projects include additions to Sunset View Elementary School, Centennial Middle School and Provost Elementary School as well as improvements to Provo High School. A portion of the bond money will also go to conducting seismic assessments on all the school except the newest ones, said Sandy Packard, Provo School Board vice president.

The bond was met with only limited resistance when presented to the community in last week's board meeting. Some of the Lakeview residents were concerned that the bond's wording was not specific enough because it only mentioned general projects. Lakeview residents wanted to make sure that the bond specifically listed the construction of the Lakeview school, Packard said.

A school was proposed for Lakeview a few years ago, but was not specifically mentioned in the bond language and thus, was never built. Specifically mentioning the construction of the school in Lakeview in the bond would make the district legally obligated to build the school, Packard said.

Currently, Provo spends more money per student than any other district in Utah County. With a certified tax rate Provo generates $969 per student. The two other school districts in the county, Nebo and Alpine, spend $844 and $721 per student respectively.

Though Provo is spending more per student, the money spent is still far below the state average of $1,112. Even though the proposed bond would raise spending per student to at $1,082, Provo would still be spending less per student than the state average, said Kerry Smith, business administrator in the Provo School District.

"Provo is having a problem maintaining its buildings, because they are not collecting enough money to maintain them," Smith said.

The reason Provo collects more per student than the other districts in the county is because it has more businesses and expensive housing than Alpine or Nebo, Smith said.

Utah spends the least amount of money per student than any state in the country, Smith said.

If the bond passes Provo residents who own a $100,000 home would see their property taxes rise to $41. Owners of $200,000 homes would see property tax rates rise to $82. Owners of businesses worth $200,000 would property taxes rise to $150.

The bond and leeway will be voted on at the end of June.

Bond money allocation

* Reconstruction of Timpanogos Elementary $11.3 million

* Construction of Lakeview school $11 million

* Centennial Middle School addition $3.5 million

* Sunset View addition $2.4 million

* Provo High Improvements $1.6 million

* Energy and seismic projects $1.7 million

* Provost Elementary addition $960,000

Balance to go to be used for contingency in case of rising energy costs

Leeway money allocation:

* Employee Compensation $800,000

* Energy Costs Increase $300,000

* Operating costs for Lakeview $400,000

(For comments, e-mail Adam Denison at adamdenison@byu.net)

Copyright Brigham Young University 20 Mar 2006