[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: District 281 Debt

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Speed Gibson:
District 281 Debt
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1194762531.shtml


   There are two fundamental financial documents in the private sector,
   the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet. Most of my time will be
   spent on the former, which shows where the money comes in and where it
   was spent. In fact, my "Consumer" budget really only addresses the
   expense side.
   But I'm clearly going to have to take a look at the Balance Sheet,
   too, which shows what you own and what you owe. District 281 owns a
   lot of old buildings. It owes somewhere in the neighborhood of $200
   million. To this casual observer, this appears out of balance.;
   There are ten K-5 elementary schools, assuming as the 2008-09 budget
   did that Northport remains open. Forest (Crystal) was rebuilt in 2005.
   Next newest is Zachary Lane (Plymouth), built in 1969, 38 years old.
   Noble (Golden Valley) is the oldest, built in 1954, over 50 years old.
   Granted some additions were done later to most of them, but it doesn't
   appear very significant or very recent. Lakeview (Robbinsdale) and
   Pilgrim Lane (Plymouth) are both their original size and both are over
   40 years old.
   It strikes me that the District has under-invested in facilities. The
   situation at the secondary level is comparable. I'd feel better if we
   at least owned these buildings free and clear, but it would appear
   not. We have $200 million or so to pay off on an aging portfolio of
   buildings.
   I'm getting ahead of myself, but a "vision" for a vibrant District
   should include replacement of these buildings. For now, let me
   postulate that the useful life of an Elementary school is 50 years. We
   have 10, so we should be rebuilding one every 5 years. Instead, we're
   looking at closing one or more, and making modest repairs to some of
   the others. Oh, and we still have that $200 million to repay.