Bend-La Pine school district administrators recommend putting a $98 million bond measure before voters in May 2013 to pay for a slew of building improvements and construction of two new schools.

The proposal is part of district recommendations to the school board for dealing with growing student enrollment. The school board will hear the proposal and recommendations when it meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Under the recommendation, the existing property tax rate would remain the same, at about $1.60 for every $1,000 of assessed value. The proposal is intended to address long-term projections that put Bend-La Pine enrollment at 19,262 students by 2020.

The district has a history of steady growth. This year, more than 200 additional students enrolled for about 16,500 total. That reflects a trend of growth since 1986 each year, with the exception of 2009.

Scott Reynolds, chairman of the volunteer sites and facilities committee, said the group spent several months looking at project ideas, setting priorities and looking at options while taking into consideration safety, security and maintenance needs. The committee, made up of community members, played a key role in putting the recommendation together.

With the increased numbers of students, simply redrawing school boundaries to distribute youngsters isn’t realistic logically, he said.

“Bend’s going to continue to grow,” Reynolds said. “Those schools will fill in.”

Schools are filling up in Bend. Eleven of the district’s 14 elementary schools in Bend are near or above capacity, as are three of the four middle schools in the city.

Slightly more than half of the bond would go toward new school costs. Building a new elementary and a new middle school would cost an estimated $53.66 million total, according to the recommendation.

Acquiring land for the elementary school would cost another estimated $2.25 million. That leaves about $42 million for 138 projects throughout all of the district’s facilities.

The specific projects are different from school to school. Examples include new bleachers, restroom upgrades, lighting improvements and new asphalt in parking lots.

Brad Henry, the school district’s chief operations and financial officer, said the goal would be to do the work, including the schools, between 2013 and 2014.

There’s plenty of planning ahead if the board approves the recommendation and voters, in turn, support the bond.

For example, the district doesn’t have a site selected yet for the new elementary school, Henry said. The proposal recommends building a middle school on property the district owns on the east side of Shevlin Park Road near the north end of Northwest Chiloquin Drive.

District voters approved a $119 million bond in 2006 that paid for three new elementary schools and more than 170 other improvements throughout the district.

That bond was a 17-year bond, but the district’s payments on it will drop as the bonds mature, Henry said. That allows the district to take out additional bonds with voter approval without increasing the overall tax rate, he said.

District’s to-do list

Here are a few examples of projects and estimated costs for Bend-La Pine schools’ proposed $97.9 million bond:

New middle school: $37.87 million

New elementary school: $15.78 million

Land for elementary school: $2.25 million

Remodel restrooms at R.E. Jewell Elementary School: $213,735

New cabinet doors in classrooms at Lava Ridge Elementary School: $38,343

New gym floor at Juniper Elementary School: $71,042

New bleachers in main gym at Cascade Middle School: $150,150

Renovated building exterior at Bend High School: $214,500

Remodeled science lab facilities at La Pine High School: $1.26 million

Source: Bend-La Pine school district documents