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Decatur ISD seeks proposals for facilities study


In March 2019, Decatur ISD trustees put the brakes on plans for a 12-classroom addition at the high school and other improvements on the campus, wanting a detailed assessment on facilities.

Monday night, trustees took a step toward getting a complete look at all the district’s buildings and campuses and their uses. Trustees ordered administrators to send out a request for proposals for a facilities assessment. The assessment, if the district accepts a proposal, is expected to cost more than $50,000.

“When we were looking at the addition at the high school, it was one of the things I asked for back then. Did we do a facilities assessment? I wanted to see the full assessment to grasp what was needed,” said School Board President Charlie Tibbels. “That was behind my vote back then to shut down the big purchases.”

Decatur ISD Chief Financial Officer Cindy Tatum said the assessment will give the district a complete picture of their facilities from capacity, uses and capital improvement needs.

“It will help in educational decisions,” Tatum said.

Tatum said a facilities assessment was completed during her tenure in Wichita Falls ISD.

“It’s a lot of work. The report was 350 to 400 pages. But we knew everything about every building,” Tatum said.

Decatur ISD last had a facilities assessment completed in 2013. That report primarily looked at the capacity of the buildings.

Decatur ISD Superintendent Joseph Coburn said this assessment will be akin to the Templeton Demographics reports the district receives with growth projections.

“This will be a Templeton type report about every building,” Coburn said.

He also said going beyond five to seven years between assessments would be pushing it.

During a recent facilities committee meeting, members were polled about using the district’s architect Corgan for the study or hiring a third party. District officials said the support for a third party not currently working in the district was overwhelming.

“Having someone not with a stake in the district determining where we are is a smart move by the facilities committee,” Coburn said.

Trustee Chris Lowery asked about not getting an assessment for each building at one time to defray some of the costs. Coburn said it would be possible but urged to do it at one time.

“We have capacity to do it now with our construction fund,” Coburn said.

The district’s construction fund was at $5.635 million as of Aug. 31.

In other business, the district received a superior rating in the Texas School FIRST financial accountability rating system. It is the second straight year for the district to receive a perfect score on the report.

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