MOUNT VERNON — Economic times are tough and homeowners don’t like to pay more taxes, but school enrollment continues to rise and elderly school buildings no longer meet the space and academic requirements of a 21st century education.
To help mitigate the problem, school districts such as East Knox, Highland and Johnstown-Monroe have installed modular classroom units, supposedly on a temporary basis until funds are available to build additional facilities. Most school administrators feel that modular units, when compared to school buildings, are like mobile homes compared to traditional houses; the more permanent option is a better financial investment and a wiser use of financial resources. However, as East Knox treasurer Jessica Busenburg said, “If you need classroom space, there is not really any other option until construction takes place.”
“Modulars are not a long-term answer,” said East Knox superintendent John Marschhausen, “but they’ve been a godsend to us as we’ve grown.”
For purely space reasons, six modular classrooms were installed at East Knox Elementary during the 2002-03 school year, at the same time the district was undergoing a needs assessment by the Ohio School Facilities Commission. The voters rejected building levy issues around the same time.
East Knox was again on the ballot, asking for building funds, in ’04 and ’05, but those levies did not pass. The district added a four-classroom modular at the high school for the 2006-07 school year to accommodate students for a short time, knowing the voters were going to be asked to approve the middle school building project. The middle school bond issue passed in 2006. When the construction project is complete, students will be moving out of the modulars.
When East Knox purchased the new three-classroom modular for the high school, Busenburg said it cost approximately $90,000, including site preparation, delivery and setup. A used four-classroom modular at the elementary cost approximately $65,000, also including site prep, delivery and setup. When a district sells a modular unit, the district’s selling price rarely comes close to the price for which it was originally purchased.
Busenburg said it is possible to lease modulars for smaller upfront costs, but the total costs are significantly greater. She said voice communication, sidewalks, ramps, Internet access, additional snow and ice removal, landscaping, and other similar issues are additional costs that need to be factored in when considering installing modular units. Operating costs for modulars depend on the insulation, air conditioning, interior or exterior hallways, and other similar conditions and are hard to separate from the overall school operating costs. If the modular unit is hooked into an existing building’s electrical supply and doesn’t have a separate meter, for instance, it is difficult to calculate what portion of the electric bill “belongs” to the modular.
Although voters have a say in whether new school facilities will be built, the purchase or lease of modular units, more expensive in the long run, is up to the school board. That has been the case in the Highland school district, whose space requirements has snowballed as enrollment has grown steadily, from 1,709 pupils in the 1996-97 school year to 1,858 students in 2007. (The state had projected Highland’s enrollment would be 1,682 in 2007.)
When the 1996 levy passed, the district had six portable classrooms which were installed in the early ’90s to serve as “temporary” instructional space. Also previous to the ’96 project, the middle school housed band, choir and a computer lab, so the district had to run shuttles back and forth from the high school to those areas.
Once the building project was completed in ’97-98, all except one of the modular units at the high school were sold. The remaining unit became the technology office. It is now attached to the high school building, along with another modular unit to house the district offices, also. A four-classroom modular unit at West Elementary houses the kindergarten students. Voters in the Highland district have continued to reject building levies, and early in 2007 a portable at Highland Central was put into service.
Highland’s treasurer Jon Mason agreed with Busenburg that the operating costs of a temporary unit can be difficult to determine because the utilities are tied to the main building. They are usually estimated to be higher than for brick and mortar classrooms, though.
“Before the district purchased the portable unit which now houses the district office, it was used in Cardington. They had a separate meter for electric to the unit,” he said. “They had told us the electric ranged from $300 to $400 per month for both heating and cooling months. That amounted to 20 cents to 28 cents per square foot. The electric bill at our high school, on the other hand, is around 5 cents to 7 cents per square foot.”
Mason said the portable unit put in place at Central Elementary last year ended up costing a total of $140,000. The building itself was $80,000; with associated costs, the district spent another $60,000. The unit included restrooms, which took extra utility work, but the typical added costs include site work, water, sewer, electric, telephones, safety alarms, public address system, sidewalks and wheelchair ramp.
“This was definitely on the high end,” Mason said.
Johnstown-Monroe has been using temporary modular units in some fashion for a decade, and the yearly lease payments for each unit total $35,000.
“It cost approximately $100,000 the last time that we set up a modular,” said treasurer Tammy Woods. “That included charges for delivery, setup, skirting, electric, ramps, sidewalks, permits, fire alarm connection, site preparation and the addition of back exit; and that was a modular without a restroom.”
Woods said that from a treasurer’s point of view, it would be so much simpler if the modular space were school building space.
“There are so many additional hidden costs with modulars,” she explained. “Those things that can be shared in a building, must be purchased separately for a modular. It is also very difficult to have to spend $100,000 to set up a modular, knowing that one day you are going to have to pay someone to take it back down. I personally think all of this is money that should be going toward hiring needed teachers, improving educational materials, technology and repairing failing buildings.”
Teachers say that another hidden cost of modulars, aside from the financial impact, is the loss of instructional time when students have to travel back and forth to a main school building to an outside modular classroom. The travel time increases in inclement weather when pupils have to put on coats, hats and gloves to move between classes.
