Middletown City Schools officials say they might not wait for millions of dollars in state funding to come through before moving ahead with a plan to construct a new middle school in the East End.

And a tax levy to help pay for it might not be too far away.

Replacing Middletown Middle School, the oldest building in the district, is a top priority for the Middletown Board of Education, Superintendent Greg Rasmussen said this week. The district had planned to use about $40 million from the Ohio School Facilities Commission to help defray the cost of an estimated $56 million to $66 million project that would build a new middle school and renovate the existing Middletown High School.

School officials originally thought those funds might be available in two years, but recently learned it could be as many as three to five years before the money becomes available. Rasmussen said some district officials feel that’s too long to wait to replace the crumbling, 89-year-old middle school at 1415 Girard Ave.

School board members “would like to explore the possibilities of getting one sooner,” Rasmussen said.

District business manager George Long said the board of education is considering placing an initiative on the May ballot, but stressed nothing has been decided. He said the deadline for placing a measure on the May ballot isn’t until February.

“This was discussed at the Oct. 8 and 22 meetings,” Long said. “A final decision to have a May bond levy will be made in January 2013. If they move forward with that initiative, the new middle school will open for the fall of 2015.”

And for some students, teachers and administrators who walk the halls of Middletown Middle School every day, the new building can’t go up fast enough. Crumbling stairways, bathroom stalls without doors and cafeteria tables with no chairs are all signs of the former Vail Middle School showing its age. Teachers say it’s about more than merely being inconvenienced; these problems often result in classroom disruptions.

Emily Donner, a seventh grade language arts teacher, said most classrooms have modernized door locks, but others still require skeleton keys. Donner said she recently had a skeleton key break in half when she tried to use it because it was so old.

Sher said she probably spends 30 minutes every school day adjusting the room temperature to keep students comfortable. For a 180-day school year, that’s 90 hours that could be used for classroom instruction.

“If you went into my room right now with all the windows closed, it would probably be about 100 degrees in there,” Donner said. “So you have to play this game between the windows being open, then everybody gets cold, then you have to shut them to heat things back up again. You have to time it just right all day, and that takes up your time too.”

Eighth-grader Luke Farrell agrees. “In every single room, teachers have portable air conditioners in their window, and they bring fans from their homes,” he said.

Seventh-grader Chloe Pruett said the stairs in the building “are really old and they’re falling apart. I fell one time and it really hurt.”

Gracie Pruett, an eighth-grader, said one time she fell off of a chair that had a loose seat, and it was just placed back on its pedestal for someone else to fall off of later.

Parent Lamar Ferrell has a child who requires a wheelchair to get around. He and special education teacher Kathy Wilson both noted that the present middle school is not wheelchair friendly. Wilson noted that the limited parking presents issues for the handicapped as well.

But convincing recession-weary taxpayers in Middletown to support another levy could be a tall order. Voters gave a lift to the Middletown Senior Center by approving a 5-year, 1-mill property tax levy Nov. 6, that will cost the owner of a $100,000 home $30.60 a year, or $153.15 over the life the the levy.

But voters in the Middletown-Dayton area were not so kind to school levies asking for new money last Tuesday, rejecting 11 out of 12 such issues. Statewide, the numbers were better with 55 percent of school tax issues gaining voter approval last Tuesday, including 45 seeking new money.

Rasmussen said the board has asked Long to look further into the middle school construction. He said a lot of questions still remain.

“What would it cost? What components would it take? How would (the middle school construction) impact our state money down the road? Do we wait 6-7 years, or not? Do we break up the plan into two phases or just keep it as one? Those are the kinds of questions that the board has asked George to look into,” Rasmussen said. “That’s really where we are now.”

Long said some preliminary studies on constructing a new middle school were done during a four-month community engagement process that ended in April. But Long said now school officials are doing a more detailed analysis, so school board members can make the most informed decision possible come January about how to proceed.

“We still do not have a definitive answer on when the remaining approximately $40 million (from the Ohio School Facilities Commission) will become available,” Long said. “At some point between now and when those $40 million dollars become available, Middletown will have to make a decision.

“If they want that $40 million dollars, they are going to have to provide the remainder of the local share of those funds,” he said. “Part of what we’re in the process of doing is updating our master facilities plan with the state to quantify that.”

Phase 1 of the district’s master building plan was funded by a Nov. 2003 bond issue and resulted in the construction of six new elementary schools and the renovation of two existing elementary schools.

Phase 2 was originally intended to address secondary school enrollment, but due to changes since the original 2003 plan was created, the second phase of the building plan was altered and reconfigured to become the current overall master plan.