Area schools ponder issues affecting future

Patrons of three local districts are considering major issues that will determine how their students will be educated and how it will be paid for.

Culbertson is considering whether to continue a unification process, Hayes Center voters will be asked again to pay for new facilities, and Maywood patrons may be asked to override budget limits.

Culbertson school officials plan an informational town hall meeting Monday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m., in the school gym, to discuss the future of Culbertson's schools.

A seven-year unification agreement among Culbertson, Stratton and Trenton schools ends in June 2006. Under the agreement, kindergartners through sixth graders attend class in Culbertson and Trenton and junior and senior high students attend class in Trenton.

According to the Hitchcock County News, Stratton and Trenton schools have agreed to continue the unification period for another seven years. Culbertson school board members are investigating that option, as well as the possibility of merging with McCook or Hayes Center.

School officials welcome patrons' views of the option during the Monday meeting.

Hayes Center school district voters will be asked -- again -- to approve a $2 million bond issue to build five new classrooms and a new gym.

The special election will be Tuesday, March 15. The same question failed by just 12 votes at a special election Sept. 9.

Superintendent Tom McMahon told Jason Frederick, co-publisher of the Hayes Center Times-Republican newspaper, that the new construction will most likely be west of the existing high school, if village trustees approve closing the street and the school can purchase property.

School officials will schedule a community meeting to discuss the bond issue.

Maywood school patrons will learn the facts regarding a tax levy override at a community meeting Jan. 31, before the school board votes on the same issue Feb. 7.

Money-saving approaches to school budget problems will also be discussed at the town hall meeting Monday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m., in the school gym. The school district faces budget cuts because of reductions in state aid and a decrease in Frontier County's property valuation.

At the community meeting, school board members will welcome questions and comments on the possible tax override, and on other options, such as cutting back to a four-day week or reducing staff, programs and activities; or consolidation with Medicine Valley Schools.

The school board will decide at its regular board meeting Monday, Feb. 7, whether to ask voters to approve an override. The board must approve the issue by a two-third vote before the question can be taken to a special election that will have to be planned sometime before March 15.

A simple majority would rule in the special election.