SUSD may lease land for 2nd HS near Sahuarita Park

Sahuarita school officials again are trying to get a second high school built in the Sahuarita Park area, using land they would lease from FICO, but they caution there is a risk the district might not be reimbursed by the state.

District Superintendent Jay St. John told the Governing Board on Aug. 13 that Farmers Investment Co. said it may lease the district 20 acres of non-farm land next to Sahuarita Park for a high school, and possibly more land nearby for an elementary school.

St. John told the board he would like to gather community input on whether to spend some $3.5 million to $4 million in district bond funds to get started on design work, testing, grading, utilities and other work so that at least one classroom wing of a second high school might open by August 2009.

St. John said a related question on which the board needs community input is whether the high school, which was built for 1,200 students and now houses about 1,450, should go to split shifts or year-round classes in August 2009 if the second high school is not open in time.

The superintendent hopes to plan one or two Wednesday evening forums in September, and may seek board approval at the Aug. 27 Governing Board meeting.

St. John and a FICO spokesman agreed there needs to be a detailed agreement and lease, but the idea is that SUSD would use athletic fields and parking lots at Sahuarita Park, a county facility that is subject to federal agency land restrictions.

Pima County officials are willing to turn the park over to the school district for parking and use of sports fields, but putting a school building in the park would require federal approval that could take years.

“The only reason we’re going out there is to get the park. We hope to get one classroom wing open by August 2009. We have to do something; the SFB (School Facilities Board) is not going to help,” St. John said after the meeting.

The $3.5 million to $4 million would come from bond money that voters already have approved for enhancements to the bare-bones high school approved in concept by the state.

The risk in spending district money, St. John said, is that there is no certainty the School Facilities Board will get funding from the state Legislature for new schools next year, and that would mean no reimbursement to the district from the state.

The SFB several years ago approved $13 million for a second high school in Sahuarita, but the Legislature did not fund any new schools this year.

If the district does not start design work until July 2009, the next time the state might fund new schools, it may take almost a year of design work and another year of construction to open the school, meaning roughly two years of split shifts or year-round classes at the existing school.

SFB Executive Director John Arnold said he cannot guarantee reimbursement, primarily because he cannot promise the Legislature will fund school construction next year (FY 2010).

A lesser concern, Arnold said, is that he is not certain the law that placed a moratorium on construction funding this year allows the SFB to reimburse local districts. State lawyers are combing through that law and if they find no problems Arnold hopes to have guidelines for reimbursing local districts published by early September.

Thirteen districts had been scheduled to get funding to build 14 schools in fiscal 2009, including Sahuarita.

Arnold said a typical lease arrangement would have to be paid up-front with a term of 75 years, because the state requires the lease be for 150 percent of the useful length of a new school, which is set at 50 years. However, that would be to build a school on a property that is expected to remain under lease for the life of the school, whereas SUSD hopes to get future state funding for the site as well as the building.

“Seventy-five years is his rule, not our rule. After (building with) a short term lease, we would go back to the SFB to buy the land, but with our building on it. It’s a financial risk,” St. John said.

The superintendent said he does not know what the cost of the lease would be, adding that if it is minimal and the lease arrangement would speed up construction of the school, the district might decide to absorb the cost.

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738