Debt-Free Mill Oversight Committee

Committee Responsibilities

The 2024 Debt-Free Mill Levy Oversight Committee is charged with becoming familiar with the 2024 Debt-Free Mill Levy program. It is responsible for monitoring the progress of the implementation of this program, including ensuring that expenditures are in alignment with the ballot language approved by voters. This committee is composed of members of the community, parents/guardians of current PSD students, principals, representatives of the employee associations and staff. 

The 2024 Debt-Free Mill Levy Oversight Committee is not a decision-making entity and does not make recommendations about specific projects to be funded by this mill levy. Instead, the committee is responsible for reviewing the district’s plans for use of this funding and information provided by the district specific to the cost and completion of these projects.

February 2026 Committee Update 

On February 4, 2026, the 2024 Debt Free Mill Levy Oversight Committee met. The committee, which is charged with monitoring the progress of the implementation of the Debt Free mill levy program and ensuring that expenditures are in alignment with the ballot language approved by voters, heard updates from staff on Summer 2025 and Summer 2026 construction as well as on the student-based budgeting (SBB) formula used in the district. 

During this conversation, the Operations team shared data specific to change orders made in Summer 2025 projects. Change orders were primarily the result of the accelerated timeline on which Summer 2025 projects had to be planned and completed. Additionally, significant scope changes were made to planned projects at O’Dea and Beattie Elementary Schools to add the installation of air conditioning in these buildings. As the district plans for Summer 202 projects, it is not anticipated that there will be substantive change orders because there is more time to carefully plan and execute on these projects. 

In addition to reviewing Summer 2025 projects, an update on planned construction for Summer 2026 was also provided. The district shared its construction dashboard, which is being used to track progress on solicitations, contracting, and permitting for all planned summer projects. Two of the larger planned projects for Summer 2026 are the installation of air conditioning at Lesher and Webber Middle Schools. Air conditioning installation is being prioritized at these sites because of their size and the number of students they serve. Completing the installation of air conditioning at Webber and Lesher will require two summers. In Summer 2026, air conditioning will be installed in classroom areas and in Summer 2027, it will be installed in common areas. In addition to these projects, several other deferred maintenance projects will be completed in twenty one of the district’s school buildings. These projects include roof replacements, flooring replacements, boiler replacements, ADA upgrades, video scoreboard installation, and fire alarm as well as emergency generator work. 

During the committee’s meeting, the PSD Finance team also shared information about changes impacting the district’s student-based budgeting formula, which is used to allocate funding to schools on a per pupil basis. The amount of funding being allocated to schools for the next school year (2026-27) is being impacted by the decline in student enrollment. It is anticipated, as of January 2026, that student enrollment will decline by approximately 654 students district-wide next year. Additionally, in alignment with the values stated by the Board of Education, the district will no longer provide size factor support to elementary schools with more than 400 students and middle schools with more than 700 students. High schools do not receive a size factor. With this change, small schools will continue to receive size factor funding from the mill levy to ensure they have the minimum amount of funding necessary to operate.  

At the meeting, several questions were shared specific to change orders, Summer 2026 construction, and Student-Based Budgeting. These questions and answers are as follows: 

• Is there a process for documenting contractor/architect performance? 
  • Yes, we take this into account for future purchasing. In the procurement process specifically, there is consideration of vendor performance. 
• What are AIA contracts? 
  • AIA contracts are a standard form of contract typically used in smaller systems to manage construction. PSD no longer uses AIA contracts because they are more favorable to design professionals and builders than to the district. Instead, PSD uses contracts developed by its external legal counsel that favor the district. 
• Have staffing changes impacted any of the projects? 
  • Yes. We reassigned veteran project managers to summer projects after other project managers left the district. 
• Is there a specific contract percentage that is specifically dedicated to addressing change orders? 
  • The district is planning for the possibility of cost changes due to change orders collectively across all mill projects.
• How is priority assigned to projects? How do we get kids in school by installing air conditioning in more locations? 
  • The Board has indicated that installing air conditioning is a priority. So, the district first looks at size of building and number of students impacted to determine where AC may be installed first. Then, structural constraints in the building are considered and priorities are determined from there. There are also life-safety issues that are prioritized too. For example, there was a culinary classroom with mold in its cabinets. It was not originally planned to be upgraded this summer, but must be to address the safety hazard. It should also be noted that there are other systems, outside of air conditioning, that can result in a building being shut down. For example, if a boiler fails in winter, it can result in not being able to have school. Therefore, the district tries to prioritize maintaining these critical systems in the summers to avoid such shut downs due to equipment failure. 
• Is the district pausing on the completion of any projects given that there is a possibility of closing schools?
  • No. At the moment, the assumption is that the district will retain all of its buildings and therefore must continue to maintain and complete work in them even if schools were to be consolidated or closed. 
• When the district is doing roof replacements, is consideration given to ensuring the class of material used is durable? Is solar being explored? 
  • Yes. PSD’s internal maintenance experts provide input on materials to be used in replacements. Additionally, when contracting with experts to complete replacements, the district is collaborating with these experts to ensure that all code requirements are met. Regarding solar, the district is using the solar feasibility study to determine whether roofs or other spaces are candidates for solar installation. The district’s priority, though, is on completing deferred maintenance and installing air conditioning at this point. 
• Does the district work with principals to determine what is needed in their buildings?
  • Yes. The district’s Operations teams makes maintenance recommendations based on the condition of systems in the buildings. They then work with principals to determine if other priorities need to be addressed first. For example, at one school, Operations had initially planned to replace flooring but had a conversation with the principal about completing roof repairs instead due to more pressing needs associated with roof leaks.
• What processes are used to select contractors? 
  • The district uses a variety of different processes including bids, solicitations, requests for proposals, etc. depending on the needs and cost of the project. 
• What is a typical timeline for contracting? 
  • Timelines can vary, but this can be a three to four month long process. This is particularly the case when negotiating with vendors as this can take considerable time. 
• Do principals have autonomy over how to allocate SBB to staffing in their building? 
  • Yes. Principals determine how to allocate funding within their building. There are guidelines in place around how funds are used (i.e. for mental health staffing) and they work with the assistant superintendents to determine final staffing allocations. 
• Why are we still talking about school consolidation when the mill was supposed to prevent this discussion from being needed for three to four years? 
  • We are almost in year three already. However, the primary reason for revisiting the consolidation conversation is the drastic acceleration in the number of small schools in the system and the cost acceleration that is required to operate these small schools. 

Prior to this meeting of the oversight committee, committee members also shared questions that were answered by staff. These questions and answers can be found here. 

The Debt Free Mill Levy Oversight Committee will meet again in the spring and will present an overview of its work to the Board of Education at the June 9, 2026 Board Meeting.