photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence High School is pictured on July 28, 2016.

Within the next year, all 21 construction projects in the Lawrence school district funded by the 2013 bond issue will be complete. But before those last construction crews pack up, more improvements for the district’s secondary schools will be in the pipeline.

“I don’t think there’s any question that our secondary schools need attention, just like our elementary schools needed some attention,” said Lawrence schools Superintendent Kyle Hayden. “It’s a matter of how much and when.”

In December, the district hired architects to assess the facilities at the district’s six secondary schools and create a master plan for potential upgrades. That process is nearing completion, and conversations with the school board on how to proceed will take place in coming weeks.

The district’s $92.5 million bond issue in 2013, while including updates to all 21 schools in the district, made limited improvements to the secondary schools. About three-quarters of the $92.5 million bond went toward the district’s 14 elementary schools.

The updates to the secondary schools could amount to more than $45 million, with additions and renovations to 65-year-old Lawrence High School accounting for much of that amount. Hayden said the LHS campus was paid particular attention to in the assessment and master planning process.

“It’s really a full assessment of the current space, and then what types of spaces we will need to have to meet our current technical education needs, our special education needs, all the extracurricular activities that need to occur,” Hayden said.

Board leaders agree that the LHS campus is in need of widespread improvements.

“Lawrence High is going to be the primary focus; we really have a lot of work that we need to do there to get it up to par with the work that we’ve been doing as part of the bond construction,” said school board President Marcel Harmon.

As part of the school board’s upcoming goal-setting session, the board will begin discussion on a future bond election to fund renovations to the secondary schools. Hayden said the potential improvement to the secondary schools would also include classroom additions to all six schools to account for enrollment growth in the district.

The student population districtwide has been on the rise since 2007. Enrollment in the district rose last year by about 250 students, and numbers are projected to increase by as much as 150 students next school year, according to district projections.

The secondary improvements wouldn’t have to mean an increase in taxes for Lawrence property owners. The district’s bond and interest property tax rate has been falling for several years, and was part of the reason the district was able to decrease its property tax rate by 3.165 mills as part of the upcoming school year’s budget. Because of that drop, Hayden estimated that the district could issue about $40 million to $45 million of bonds without raising property taxes.

The particulars of the master planning process for the secondary schools and potential plans for a bond election — likely to take place sometime in 2017 — will be part of the board’s annual goal-setting discussion, which covers 10 topics ranging from technology updates to facilities planning. Harmon said that as more details are known, the conversation will move forward.

“Once we identify needs and assign an estimated cost to what those needs are for various schools, we’re going to have to look at (property taxes),” Harmon said. “We do have some room to pass a bond without raising the mill levy, we have some room there to work with, which is great.”

The board’s goal-setting session will take place from 4 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Aug. 8 at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.