Superintendent James Hess took his place, front and center, at a school board meeting for the first time Wednesday.

Thursday, August 19, 1999

Superintendent James Hess took his place, front and center, at a school board meeting for the first time Wednesday.

Meanwhile, outside the Ellis Middle School commons, the rain fell in buckets.

"I hope you didn’t bring the rain," said Amy Baskin, the Austin Board of Education president, upon welcoming Hess into the fold.

But Hess didn’t walk into a storm. Instead, on a day the board chose the language for its Nov. 2 levy override referendum, then moved to proceed with the Wescott Field renovation, everyone seemed to be on the same page. Nobody wants the Wescott project to interfere with the referendum – in reality, in perception or otherwise.

"We need to keep these issues divorced as much as possible," board member Richard Lees said. "We need that referendum."

Lees spoke after board member Brian McAlister again gave his reluctant endorsement of the Wescott project.

"I’ve made no secret of my discomfort on this project," McAlister said. "My problem with this project is, Does it send another project down in flames?"

Namely, the Nov. 2 referendum, at which voters will be asked to endorse a $1.67 million levy override annually for 10 years beginning in 2001.

By law, ballots for the referendum need to be printed and available by Oct. 1. Al Eckmann, director of business management services, said 15,000 ballots will be printed, based on 100 ballots for every 85 voters in the previous referendum. That was in 1995, when 12,000 voters approved a five-year $1.29 million annual levy override that expires in 2000.

Eckmann reiterated that the referendum will cost taxpayers less than one-third of the actual amount. The district qualifies for state referendum aid, covering 68 percent of the amount, or $1.1 million annually.

Eckmann was asked what would happen should the referendum fail.

"We’d make $1.6 million in budget cuts somewhere," Eckmann said. "Unfortunately, that would mean the reduction of a lot of programs."

While it’s safe to say no one on the board wants to risk programs, supporters of Wescott Field renovation say the $3.8 million project won’t disrupt the referendum’s momentum.

"Our first responsibility is to academics," said Dave Simonson, a board member and one of two school board reps on the Wescott Field committee that has worked three years plotting the field’s future.

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"That’s why were raising the money for Wescott [rather than using district dollars]."

Now that the Wescott Field project has received unanimous approval of the board, a steering committee will be organized to, among other things, raise money for the project.

Like the original Wescott Field committee, the steering committee will be made up largely of community members. The message that Wescott Field, though built on school property, is a community complex is expected to be trumpeted loud and clear during fundraising.

Simonson said fundraising won’t begin until after Jan. 1, 2000, well after the referendum vote.

By the end of the Hess’ first meeting, the skies were clearing and the sun peeked through the clouds. A group of school-age girls across the street from Ellis on 4th Ave. SE, jumped up and down on a trampoline. Everything appeared right with the world. Including the board’s priorities.