Ewing Board Member Shares His Figures On New School

​Editor’s Note: The following story serves as a balanced look at why Pete Funk of Ewing is running a half-page ad showing his projections of potential savings if a new cornfield school was constructed. This is not an endorsement of potential construction or a merger.
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By Carrie Pitzer

The term three-school merger is continuing to hang around the Orchard, Clearwater and Ewing areas, and one Ewing Board of Education member is on a mission to ensure talks continue.

Pete Funk of Ewing has worked and reworked the financial aspect of a potential merger and construction of a new $32 million facility so many times he can practically go through the numbers without his notes. 

He’s spent time in all three communities trying to convince stakeholders that building a new cornfield school is the best financial route for all involved. Some have agreed with Funk; others have not. 

“I think it’s going to be a better education facility, draw better teachers and keep them. I think it’ll take the animosity out of the towns,” Funk said. “You’ll save your kids and grandkids a chunk of money down the road.”

Funk believes so firmly in his numbers that he’s now running newspaper ads to show what he said will be a nearly $125 million savings after the 30-year-bond. He is encouraging stakeholders to call him and discuss his projections. 

Funk believes a $32 million school will cost roughly $44.5 million over 20 years and save $124.4 million in 30 years. According to Funk, the average savings per site if Ewing merged with the Unified District and a new school built would be $5.986 million per year over 30 years.

Last week Funk met with Nebraska Unified Superintendent Dale Martin and Ewing administrators, Superintendent Ted Hillman and Principal Greg Appleby, to review his projected figures.

First of all, Martin said $32 million for a school was only one estimate. But as far as Funk’s projections are concerned, Martin said the initial numbers used in determining the costs likely are correct because Funk’s starting figures were taken from the feasibility study released in December between the Unified District (Clearwater-Orchard-Verdigre) and Ewing.

“It’s difficult to predict with any degree of certainty anything more than a year or two,” Martin said. “These are projections and these numbers are the way Pete is looking at things.”

Funk said he looked at the five-year average of the schools to formulate the .04557 growth rate that determined the cost to the district to build the cornfield school, along with the annual savings.

Martin said he understands why Funk used a five-year average to determine the increase per year, although he said that’s where the projection aspect quickly begins, leaving uncertainty with Funk’s figures.

Martin said determining the cost and savings is not black and white because there are too many variables, including enrollment and land valuation. He said the largest expense is staffing, so the number of students in the district will have a significant effect on the number of teachers needed. 

Funk admitted that the biggest drawback to a three-school merger is having a reduction in force (RIF) and letting teachers go. But a RIF also is the biggest savings to the district since more than 80 percent of the annual budget goes toward personnel. According to Funk’s
figures, a RIF potentially could cover more than 80 percent of the construction cost.

With state aid being obsolete, the districts are almost entirely dependent on property tax for financial support. There are various grants and alternatives that assist with funding, but they fail to compare with the burden placed on landowners. 

Funk said he believes enrollment will rise with construction of a new school because families will be more apt to return to the area if they “aren’t taxed to death.”

“I don’t think levy makes any difference. Tax request is the whole thing because valuation and levy are just one times the other. It’s all about tax request and the dollars you need,” he said.

Martin said the state aid formula remains a variable, though, because the legislature is again looking at valuation and property taxes. A potential change in tax law could affect smaller districts and landowners.

After reviewing the projections and meeting with Funk to discuss how they were determined, Martin said he can neither agree or disagree with the projections. But he reiterated that they are simply projections and the next person’s projections could be entirely different.

“It’s one person’s thoughts on what would happen if you put these things together and played it out for a long period of time,” Martin said. “They could be spot on, but there are too many variables to say that it’s accurate information.”

Both Funk and Martin agreed that it was important to keep the lines of communication open between Ewing and Nebraska Unified. 

​Despite Clearwater and Orchard dissolving their agreement to be one school next year, Funk said Ewing is still interested in merging and has not been deterred by the site location controversy between Clearwater and Orchard.

“We could have went to O’Neill 17 years ago. Our position was to give these people time because it’s a heck of a lot closer,” Funk said. “Be patient, hope they come around and we all go six or seven miles.”
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To see all of Pete Funk's figures, pick up a copy of this week's newspaper. They are sold in every community in Antelope County.