DeSoto School Board approves non-profit to secure instructional support center funding

by Daphne Brown of DeSoto TODAY

The DeSoto School Board unanimously approved creating a non-profit corporation that would secure funding for the district’s yet-to-be built instructional support center.

The district has planned to develop five of 15 acres of land it owns on property at Hampton and Belt Line roads in DeSoto. Projected cost of the project is $9 million, which includes the value of the land, construction and all fees associated with it.

Sharon Price, the district’s chief financial officer, said the corporation would secure funding for the project and lease it back to the school district. According to preliminary calculations, the building could cost about $450,000 to lease annually.

“Mesquite ISD did something similar to this in 1992 with a $990,000 facility,” Price said. “Typically, these types of corporations are used to build administration buildings or transportation- and athletic-related facilities.”

Larger school districts like San Antonio, which constructed a $13 million project in 1996, and Houston, which did $33 million and $48 million projects in 1998 and 2006, respectively, have developed similar corporations in order to finance large projects outside of the classroom.

“DeSoto is among, at the minimum, 96 Texas school districts who have gone this route,” Price said. “This is being done all over the state from smaller to larger school districts, including Cleburne, Kaufman, Mesquite, Rockwall and Terrell, to name a few in and around the Metroplex.”

She said corporations have been created throughout the state to finance facilities anywhere from $4-66 million.

Fielding questions from the board, attorney Leroy Gawender had previously talked the board through the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the corporation during a work session. Board members, who would serve as the initial governing body of the corporation, requested clarification about their terms on the corporation and other policies related to the establishment of the corporation. Board member Dee Trimble had the most questions, which included compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act and conflicts of interest.

Gawender explained that district would be responsible for any expenses the corporation would incur because the corporation “won’t have money to pay for expenses.”

“Essentially, the board would be leasing the facility from themselves,” Price said.

Price said in addition to constructing the district’s new administrative offices, they have worked with the city and the DeSoto Economic Development Corporation to stimulate interest along the Hampton and Belt Line corridor.

“One of the big pieces of this project has been the amount of support we’ve received because this is being seen as a catalyst project,” Price said.

The vision also is to create senior housing units, a recreation facility and two sit-down family-oriented restaurants to buttress the district’s new headquarters.

“This is something that the community has been looking for,” she said.

Price said DeSoto began investigating new locations about five years ago and sought out everything from existing facilities to erecting a new building on land it owns in other areas of the district.

“We’ve been at 200 E. Belt Line since the beginning of the school district,” she said. “We really looked at all different types of pieces.”

District administrators are working out of the district’s original school buildings. The current board room was at one time an auditorium and the superintendent’s office was the cafeteria.

“These were schools that were never designed to be offices,” Price said. “These buildings definitely have a historical significance so we’re looking at the possibility of preserving them as some type of museum piece with photos of when the district began.”

The new ISC will continue to house the superintendent’s office and the district’s business, tax and human resource offices, but will have room to include student services, curriculum and at least two large training rooms.

The district has hired PBK Architects to design the facility but had to wait for 60 days to go out for construction bids. Price said that wait expired June 11, the day of the board’s regularly scheduled meeting. The district is using a construction manager to work with subcontractors on the support center. With larger projects like the stadium renovation, DeSoto High School additions and Woodridge Elementary, the district has used the construction managers at-risk process to manage the large number of companies involved in the process.

“The construction manager at risk works with all of the subcontractors and puts together a guaranteed maximum price for the project,” Price said.

The district’s previous construction managers at-risk have been Cadence McShane on the DHS renovation, Turner Construction for the Ruby Young and Amber Terrace additions and expansions and Hunt Construction for the high school stadium and Woodridge Elementary.

Construction bids went out June 12, Price said.

“We hope to review the bids at the June 28 board meeting and make a recommendation by the July 9 board meeting,” she said.

She said the district’s plan is to have one month of bidding and 11 months of construction in order to have the center completed by July 2008.