PPEL to Provide Future Funding for KCSD

With a winning vote of 195 to 105, the Keokuk Community School District had their request for a Physical Plant and Equipment Levy approved.

Keokuk superintendent Christine Barnes said the district is excited about the results of the vote.

“We’re really thrilled. Our board has been very, very committed to being good with taxpayer money and this really allows us to take good care of our facilities,” Barnes said.

The new levy will replace the expiring bond on the middle school and Barnes reiterated that means it will not increase property taxes for residents.

Money from the levy will go towards this such as demolition of the old Jefferson School building, replacing roofing at Hawthorne Elementary and the Keokuk Middle School and replacing plumbing pipes at Keokuk High School.

Barnes said it is important these funds are coming from the levy, which will last for ten years and can be extended another ten with another vote, rather than the school’s general fund.

This is due in part to dwindling funding coming from the state. With these funds not coming out of the general fund, Keokuk will not have to look at eliminating salaries or school programs.

“I’m very grateful to the voters of the community for supporting that and allowing us to draw on those funds,” Barnes said. “So we can allow the funds in the general fund to stay in the classroom where we can impact students.”

Previously, Keokuk was one of the 65 districts without a PPEL fund, compared to the 265 with one in place.

The PPEL will add around $550,000 to the school’s available money for these infrastructure problems.

Barnes said they will also look at re-configuring part of the buildings to make more secure entries ways so they can control who is entering the building and try to help fix the spacing issue in the fine arts department in the high school.

The district will be working with a firm to create a prioritized list of items to begin work on with the new funds.

Hopefully, the time frame will be developed in the next six months and then they can begin work.

“I think the Jefferson building is one that is going to have to be done in the fairly near future as well, so you’re going to see some of those things start to happen fairly quickly,” Barnes said.

They will be meeting with staff and community members as well as students to help identify what the biggest needs are. One item is the potential expansion of the preschool program.

“We would love to expand our preschool program so that every student in the area who wants to attend preschool can do that, but we are really out of space in our preschool building,” Barnes said.

Technology improvements is another focal point that could be potentially addressed with the PPEL funds.

“Techonology, of course is something that we’re looking at, how we can really up our game in terms of instructional technology and really help better prepare kids for their life and careers outside of school,” Barnes said.

Barnes said people with questions are welcome at any school board meeting, which usually take place the third Monday of each month, or can reach out via phone or email.

For the full interview with Barnes, tune into the Weekend Radio Recap on Z93.9 and 1310 KOKX.