The Room 4 Kids to Learn committee hosted another in a round of community meetings to discuss the upcoming bond reauthorization initiative at the Pahrump Valley High School gym last Thursday.

The bond will be Question 1 on the Nov. 7 ballot and would be good through Nov. 7, 2016. Funds from the bond would become available in 2008, when the previous bond from 1998 runs out.

The new bond will not result in a tax increase from the present 58-1/2 cents per $100 assessed property value.

Debbie Wescoatt, Nye County School Board president, said the projected funds that would be received from the bond are $140 to $150 million. She emphasized, however, that this was a very "conservative" estimate that was given to the school board by the bond attorney and bond consultant.

When asked by a concerned resident whether the bond money would be enough, Wescoatt said, "No, it's not, but it's the only number I could get the bond attorney to go to."

She also said the school board had a bill draft submitted to the state legislature, asking it for construction funds.

Wescoatt emphasized to the residents at the meeting the consequences if the bond does not pass. "We'll be looking at double sessions and/or year-round for the high school and the middle school," she suggested.

Wescoatt had mentioned at a previous school board meeting that the district had to take these measures in the past and that nobody -- students, faculty, or parents -- was happy with that system.

She also reminded those present that some of the funding would be slotted for schools in northern Nye County, such as Beatty and Amargosa Valley.

"(There are) other schools up north, and I can't forget about them, either," Wescoatt said.

Wescoatt said that the bond money would be used "more than likely to build a new high school" in light of the population growth evident in middle school.

At the last official count, J.G. Johnson elementary had 658 students,, and Hafen Elementary had 586 students.

At the meeting, Wescoatt offered a slide and video show of schools she, Superintendent Rob Roberts, and other board members had toured in Arizona to get ideas for a new facility.

The schools they looked at were all permanent modular constructions, which is how the school board would like to construct a new facility.

Wescoatt said at the beginning of meeting that part of the reason for the presentation was "so people understand we're not just building modulars."

Wescoatt said that members went to Arizona to see schools because they have very similar weather conditions to Nevada and also have effective water conservation measures.

Wescoatt and Bob Whimpey, head of maintenance and facilities, explained the merits and drawbacks of each school.

One of the concepts that is being considering for a new high school is a 1,600-student, two-tier facility, with a college preparatory program and a vocational program on one campus, but with each program having separate administrations.

However, Westcoatt emphasized that nothing is written in stone as of yet, and "this is still just a conception of what we need to do."

Another hurdle that Wescoatt said the school board faces is getting a developer to come to Pahrump to build a new school. "General contractors are not interested in building here (because) there's too much going on in Las Vegas," Wescoatt explained. She added that the school board has received only two or three bids from contractors.

Wescoatt also addressed questions about the Focus Property Group's offer to build a school.

She said the school board council had recommended that they reject the offer because of the conditions Focus Group had outlined.

Focus Group had offered to build an elementary school but would not pay more than $8 million dollars, and the school board would have to make up the difference.

She also said that Focus Group was unwilling to give the school board land for the school and did not want to pay impact fees. Further, Focus Group wanted to wait until they had 4,000 homes built before starting construction on the new school. Wescoatt said they could not afford to wait that long in light of the future influx of students that is expected.