Details about the track project appeared to be coming into focus.

 

• After some uncertainty about the construction date, we were given a time slot in 2027 to complete the work. This brought us inline with the Modernization Projects that the district was performing at several schools. 

• We were informed that a surveyor would provide a more accurate estimate for the project in the spring of 2026, and that this would cost BSCO $7000.

• It was also disclosed that the cost could be upwards of $317,000, depending on what was discovered by the surveyor.

  • Several potential fundraising scenarios were considered

    • BSCO allocated $50,000 of its $115,000 reserve toward the project as part of the proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year.

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You can view the information presented on pages 13 and 14 of the slide deck by clicking here.

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You can view the 2025-26 BSCO operating budget here.

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There was limited new information to share at the BSCO Fall Community Meeting. 

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You can view the information presented on page 6 of the slide deck by clicking here.

The BSCO Winter Community Meeting identified the survey firm that would be performing our estimate. We also learned that we would need storm water runoff management as part of the design for the new track. We learned later that this had not been included as part of the initial estimate provided by the district in the previous school year.

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You can view the information presented on page 5 of the slide deck by clicking here.

On March 20th, BSCO was sent the official estimate by our district project manager.

 

The estimated required cost was $235,218.61 to widen the track, lay new asphalt, install the storm water runoff, plus the rest of the construction costs. It did not include a rubberized surface, which was part of the original set of requests from the Bonny Slope Community. Additionally, costs to mitigate poor soil and possible geogrid stabilization were also listed as "options."

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All in, this put the cost of the project at $389,700.91 - well out of scope of the initial community vote in 2025.

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You can view the estimate by clicking here.

In an effort to understand more about the project, many questions were asked of our district project manager. There appeared to be several significant details that had not been clearly disclosed; including that all funds for the project would need to be on hand when a bid was accepted in the Fall of 2026.

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You can view the questions asked our project manager in Appendix C (Q&A) of the Track Improvement Details document by clicking here.

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With the new information, BSCO undertook a series of budgeting meetings to see if additional funds could be gathered in time to meet the district timeline for construction. It was quickly discovered that even with using the full reserves, and gutting the operating budget for the 2026-27 school year, BSCO would still be short of the $389k needed for the project.

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BSCO decided that since the community had voted the project in, they should have the opportunity to choose how to proceed. Given that the desire to renovate the track had been floating around for years, it felt fair to give families a chance to vote.

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The major snag in this plan was the need to approve the 2026-27 operating budget at the Spring Community Meeting, which would also be the community's first chance to see to official estimate for the track project. Meaning, the community would have to vote both the track project's future and the budget at the same time.

The Spring Community Meeting focused on bringing families up to speed. The majority of the meeting was spent discussing the track.

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Click here to view the video presented to the community at the meeting.

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The community vote was opened on May 20th and closed on May 30th. Here are the results: