The Limestone County Board of Education held a work session Tuesday to discuss capital projects and to continue a debate over who should pay for field trips.

With $595,000 to allocate toward projects by September 2019, board members looked at directing the money toward adding a 1,600-square-foot administrative building at Tanner Elementary School and several urgent roofing projects.

Board member Bret McGill said the $595,000 currently in the capital projects budget is actually left over leveraged funds from other projects that were completed throughout the system but came in under budget.

High on the list of Board Chairman Charles Shoulders is the administrative building at Tanner Elementary. In past meetings, he has lamented that the school does not have sufficient space for its administrators and receptionist.

Currently, two classrooms near the front entrance of the school serve as offices for the school secretary, counselor and principal. The principal’s office also doubles as a conference room. Preliminary drawings depict a space that includes separate offices for the principal, counselor and receptionist, a secure vestibule and a conference room. The new building would attach to the current front entrance of the school but would be offset about 15 feet from the north corner of the entrance so it wouldn’t infringe on the parking lot.

“I would like for us to take care of that project,” Shoulders said. “The situation there is less than ideal.”

Director of Maintenance Steve Wallace highlighted several roofing and HVAC projects for the board to consider funding from the capital projects budget. The most urgent projects include $25,000 for an HVAC unit at Blue Springs Elementary School, $5,000 for roofing repairs at Johnson Elementary School, and $35,000 for repair and partial replacement of the roof at the Tanner campus.

“Steve told us those things were a high priority,” Shoulders said. “Those roofs could be leaking tomorrow, they are at the point that they need to be taken care of right away.”

Shoulders said $450,000 of the remaining leveraged funds have already been designated for the new building at Tanner, and he is hopeful the school system will be able to complete the project for close to that amount. That would leave enough money in the budget to cover the other roofing and HVAC projects deemed urgent. Shoulders said the board is ready to start taking bids for construction of the administrative building.

Field trip fees

During last month’s meeting, a suggestion from Superintendent Dr. Tom Sisk that students start footing the bill for some field trips spurred a heated discussion among board members. The board revisited that discussion Tuesday after Director of Transportation Rusty Bates provided them with details about how much field trips are costing the system. Bates estimated the district provides school buses for 40 trips per month, including athletic events, which cost the district approximately $1.80 per student per mile. However, the state allots the system only $1.25 per mile, leaving the district with a deficit. This deficit has led school leaders to consider charging students for field trips that are not funded by outside sources such as booster clubs or grants.

McGill said the board is continuing to look at the field trip issue and may consider drafting a policy that would regulate what types of school trips the system would fund.

“We found out that we had a policy in place governing field trips in 2014-2015, and I suggested we go back to that,” McGill said. “What I do know is that we should not cut field trips because they are a strain on the bus fleet, but rather the cuts should be based on the educational value of the trip.”

The LCBOE will meet at 6 tonight at the Limestone County Courthouse Annex, 100 S. Clinton St., for a regularly scheduled meeting.