Clearwater Discusses Costs Of Education, New Building

By Adam Maly
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The feasibility study was among items on both the Clearwater and Orchard original board meetings on Monday. 


Meeting at the same time in separate rooms at the Orchard site before a joint meeting was held, the Clearwater board speant roughly a half hour discussing the study. 


Clearwater board members were generally in favor of continuing the feasibility study and keeping their options open.


“I’m not ready to take anything off the table,” Amy Thiele said. “We need to try to tie down some costs on a new building.”


Advisory board member Regina Krebs presented the board with some additional research. She also expressed interest in furthering research on what a larger district could mean for student curriculum. 


“The state has always held that 390 is an ideal number of students,” Krebs said. “If the state is calling that an ideal situation, what does the curriculum look like in an ideal situation?”


Krebs told the board she would like to have an active conversation with counselors, teaching staff and other communities on what career path opportunities could be gained from an increase in students in the district.


“Now would be a really good time to research,” she said. “Can we offer anything additional to our kids?”


Another point of discussion was the cost per student currently and going forward in the district.
According to the 2015-16 ASR, the financial report turned into the department of education every year, the actual cost per student in the Clearwater-Orchard district was about $18,000. That’s higher than other area schools, which averaged around $14,000 per student, according to Krebs.


The budget per student for 2016-17 is set for $21,000, which would leave some savings per student if the actual cost reflects last year’s numbers. The advisory board agreed that the high cost per student is a question for the superintendent to help answer.


The board adjourned the meeting with a consensus to keep an open mind in considering all options presented in the feasibility study.
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During the meeting, Marty Kerkman was also voted to be the Clearwater representative for the Unified Board.