ALPINE DISTRICT NOW HAS FUNDS TO BUILD AT LEAST 4 NEW SCHOOLS

Alpine School District now has the money to build at least four new schools, possibly as early as this year.

In a special meeting Tuesday night, the Alpine School Board adopted a resolution authorizing the issuance and confirming the sale of $73 million in general obligation school building bonds. Voters approved undertaking a total of $98 million in bonds by almost 2-1 in June.The bonding will cost the average homeowner $88 per year in new property taxes. It will also be used to build as many as eight new schools or renovate existing schools to hold more students. The $73 million will pay for construction of two new high schools and two new elementaries, one of each in the American Fork-Alpine-Highland and Orem-Lindon areas.

Construction on the schools could begin as early as this fall. However, district leaders are leaning toward plans to start construction on the Orem school and the American Fork elementary this year - with the elementary opening as early as next fall and the high school opening the year after. If officials hold construction on the other schools for favorable building costs and conditions, the Orem elementary would open in fall 1996 and the American Fork high school would follow the next fall.

Superintendent Steve Baugh told the board that phasing in construction of the schools could ease the strain on the district's maintenance and operations budget when the schools have to be staffed. Alpine Business Administrator Jack McKelvy determined that the new school staffing could add as much as $2 million to the district budget.

Board members also considered, but ultimately rejected, suggestions from both Baugh and McKelvy this spring that they also look into a tax increase for the school staffing.

Valentiner Architects PC of Salt Lake was selected to design the two elementary schools, while MHT Architects Inc. in Salt Lake City will sketch the high schools.

To save money and time, district officials asked the firms to present existing plans for the schools that could be modified to cut costs.

The Alpine district already owns the land for the first four schools. The American Fork-area elementary will be north of American Fork Junior High, near the American Fork-Highland border, and the high school will be built just north of the State Developmental Center. The Orem elementary will be near Canyon View Junior High. Recently, the district purchased 40 acres in northeast Orem from the LDS Church, where the Orem-Lindon high school will be built.

Alpine will issue the remaining $25 million from the bond authorization in 1997. That money will be used for a combination of new school construction - perhaps as many as four new elementary schools could be built before the turn of the century - and districtwide renovations.

Board members have passed temporary boundary changes for the Orem-Lindon and American Fork-Highland-Alpine areas and extended an open-enrollment policy that allows secondary students from Alpine and Highland to attend less-crowded secondary schools in the Lehi area. These policies will remain in effect until the four new schools are built.