The Daily Inter Lake

Kalispell school trustees went the extra mile Tuesday night to make sure all district taxpayers get a square deal.

In a financial housekeeping matter that began earlier this fall, ownership of the bricks and mortar of Laser, Linderman and Kalispell Junior High schools, and the land they sit on, are being swapped between the high school and elementary districts.

Although in the same school system, the two districts are separate legal entities under Montana law and different groups of taxpayers support them.

The swap is being done in anticipation of Kalispell Junior High's transformation to a middle school and Laser and Bridge Academy's move to Linderman School next year.

At the junior high, voters in both the Kalispell elementary School District 5 and the Flathead High School District approved the bonds and paid for construction of the school, which opened in 1969.

It currently has eighth-graders, who are classified as elementary students in Montana, and ninth-graders, who are technically in high school.

With that blend over the years, school trustees have split operation costs between the high school and elementary districts in proportion to the number of eighth-graders and ninth-graders served at the junior high. Currently, about 65 percent are in ninth grade.

Next fall, the junior high becomes Kalispell Middle School and starts educating sixth, seventh and eighth grades - all classified firmly in the elementary district.

In the high school district, Laser alternative school has been housed in the former Edgerton Elementary School building on East Washington Street since 1987. Ownership never was transferred to the high school, but program expenses have been paid out of the high school district coffers.

Linderman is owned solely by the elementary district. It has housed only seventh-graders since 1969, but they will move to the middle school next fall.

Trustees have listed Laser's building for sale and plan to consolidate both Laser and Bridge Academy in the Linderman building. Bridge, the computer-driven alternative high school program, need only to move out of its leased quarters at Gateway West Mall.

To align ownership with value received, trustees asked for some property value comparisons. They got three: By square footage and acreage, by insured appraised value for replacement cost and by real appraised value.

That didn't clear it up much.

Laser and Linderman both are separate pieces of property that can be appraised and sold. The high school's 65 percent share in the junior high can't be separated and sold.

After much discussion on their attorney's legal analysis, the trustees decided to give the Linderman and Laser buildings to the high school district, and give entire ownership of Kalispell Junior High to the elementary district.

They rested, in part, on a provision in state code which allows school districts to sell or dispose of property "in any reasonable manner that they determine to be in the best interests of the district."

Their intention to carry out the transfers will be published in the paper. If no protest follows, 14 days later the transactions become a done deal.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com