Colby K-12 receives funding update, OK’s projects
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Colby School Board received an update on the district’s referendum funding and approved several projects during their most recent board meeting last Monday.
The district has received the initial funds of $12.5 million in a bond anticipation note (BAN) that will allow some of the projects proposed by the referendum to get started. Early design fees or projects that start this summer can utilize these funds. The BAN has an interest rate set at 3.86 percent, as was approved at a special meeting held by the board on Nov. 25.
This will also allow the district to make a $1.58 million principal payment, cutting down on the overall cost of the repayment of the referendum loans.
Last Monday, the board moved forward with the second phase of its borrowing plan, approving a motion to issue general promissory notes not to exceed $25.49 million, $12.5 million of which will be used to refinance the current BAN. The rest will be used for the referendum projects. This will begin in the 2025-26 school year and will be paid off by the 2045-46 school year.
The interest rate for the general promissory notes is not to exceed 5 percent, with the current projection looking closer to 4.6 percent.
It was noted that it was not anticipated that the entire $25.49 million approved in general promissory will be needed, as some of the tax levy this year will be used to make the early payment to avoid interest cost, but the number will leave it flexible enough that adjustments can be made if something were not to go as planned.
The projected number, according to the plan presented to the board, was $23.79 million.
The board also approved a project to continue expanding the electronic fob key system in the high school as well as building additional bathroom partitions.
The updates to the fob system will largely be for the metals shop in the high school, though other, smaller rooms throughout the school will also be added to the system. This would replace the physical key locks that these doors currently have.
Superintendent Patrick Galligan explained that the district is looking to make some access changes that will not only help with student supervision in the room, but also limit who has access to the room and the equipment in there.
“This is our way of ensuring that the right people are using this facility. We can make sure that no one is in there on weekends, we can make sure that no one’s in there that isn’t supposed to be there during non-class period times.”
“There are dangerous potential situations with some of the equipment that’s in there if students are unsupervised,” he added. “We’ve taken some other measures to make sure some of the equipment is also locked down without proper supervision.”
The installation of a server panel will allow for these additional electronic locks to be added to the system. It will also allow more locks to be added when new pieces of infrastructure planned as part of the recently passed referendum, such as the new greenhouse, are built in coming years.
The combined cost between the new panel and the locks came to about $21,000.
The purchase of new bathroom partitions were also approved at the meeting. This would put additional privacy screening between urinals in both the bathroom by the high school gymnasium and the primary middle school bathroom.
The board approved a bid from Marshfield Book and Stationary for the project for around $3,500.
Other business
■ ■ The 2025-26 school year calendar was approved by the board at the Dec. 16 meeting.
The first day of school will be Sept. 2, 2025, and classes will end May 29, 2026. The schedule includes a winter break from Dec. 24, 2025 through Jan. 5, 2026, and continues to include a small break during February rather than going to a longer spring break option.
■ ■ Wage schedules were updated, with support staff attending Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings before or after school to receive a $15 stipend per meeting and an increase from $13.50 per hour to $14 per hour for student workers. Support staff were also given the ability to work from home if the school moves to a virtual learning day due to weather.
