Clear Creek Amana considers multimillion capital campaign to fund athletic facilities

The Clear Creek Amana Community School District is considering embarking on a multimillion capital campaign in an effort to fund athletic facilities and expand its programming.

As the district anticipates the opening of a new baseball and softball complex next summer to support its quickly growing program, school leaders are asking: what’s next and how do we pay for it?

The baseball and softball complex is about a $4 million project funded by Secure an Advanced Vision for Education — an existing statewide sales tax allocated to districts based on certified enrollment — and the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy — a property tax approved by voters and collected by the school district.

PPEL and SAVE are just two ways large projects can be funded in Iowa school districts. Another way is through general obligation bonds, similar to loans that are authorized by voters and financed over up to 20 years.

But the school district won’t have bonding capacity for the “foreseeable future” after voters in the district approved a $65 million bond two years ago, said Maury Gallagher, building and grounds director for the school district. The bond went toward opening the new East Ridge Elementary School in Coralville and for constructing fine arts space at the middle school and high school and career and technical vocational space at the high school, along with other improvements.

A capital campaign could help supplement the district’s revenue from the capital projects funds PPEL and SAVE and ensure the district has facilities ready for its growing student body, Gallagher said.

The district receives about $4.1 million in SAVE, and $1.2 million in PPEL, annually. These funds may to be used for the purchase and improvement of grounds, purchase, construction and remodeling of buildings and major equipment purchases.

With Tiffin, North Liberty and Coralville recognized as three of the fastest-growing cities in Iowa, the Clear Creek Amana district, with a current enrollment of about 3,200, estimates growing enrollment of 150 to 200 students per year. The 10-year enrollment outlook estimates 300 to 350 students per grade level.

The new baseball and softball complex at Clear Creek Amana High School in Tiffin will expand the number of competition fields for that program. The project includes a new competition baseball field and a competition softball field. Each field will have a press box, backstop netting, dugouts, batting tunnels, fencing and lighting.

The project also will include a practice softball field and other site improvements and utility infrastructure necessary for the new athletic facilities.

Currently, the district has only two fields — a baseball field south of its middle school in Tiffin and a softball field in Oxford, west of Clear Creek Elementary School.

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Kurt Ronnfeldt, activities director for Clear Creek Amana High School, said the growth of those two programs has presented challenges. The baseball program, for example, had 80 students participate this summer and the program could grow up to 100 students next year. There were 50 students in the softball program this summer.

“We want to make sure our facilities match the needs of our students. All of our programs are growing and we want kids to be a part of those things. With those additional numbers and interest, we need to make sure we have the facilities to accommodate the students and provide them the best we can,” Ronnfeldt said.

The baseball and softball complex is a conversation that began early in Ronnfeldt’s career in the school district 15 years ago, he said.

“We’ve done some tremendous upgrades to our current facilities, which made a positive impact on our programs, but having this new facility will provide us with multiple fields. Two softball and two baseball fields right here on our main campus. That’s huge,” Ronnfeldt said.

Programming for the future

One of the biggest wants of school leaders is an indoor athletic facility where band and athletics including soccer, football and baseball and softball could practice in inclement weather.

Other possible projects under a capital campaign could be tennis courts, a swimming pool, expanding the weight room at the high school and upgrading the new baseball and softball fields to include artificial turf that would cut down on maintenance costs and mean fewer weather-related delays on game days.

The district does not currently offer tennis or swimming as a part of its athletics.

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Superintendent Corey Seymour said whatever projects completed under a possible capital campaign should be available for community use, possibly with a rental fee to help cover the cost of maintenance.

“I believe if a community is really pouring in and putting money into something, it becomes a facility they should be able to use,” Seymour said.

The district is gathering interest in a capital campaign task force and looking to develop a plan with community input. It’s slightly “unusual” for school districts to support facility projects with capital campaigns, Seymour said.

Last year, however, neighboring Mount Vernon Community School District opened a $7 million activities complex and football field with the help of $2.7 million in donations from the community.

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