Next Tuesday the Nelsonville-York City School District will ask city residents to vote for a 4.04 mills bond issue needed to improve district buildings and to create a campus building housing all the district schools.
The bond issue will raise about $2.7 million and will be matched by about $15.4 million from the state through the Ohio State Facilities Commission. This is the largest amount of funding the commission provided to any of the 25 Ohio schools that qualified for the specific building funds this year, said district Superintendent Ted Bayat.
It's our turn
Bayat said. What's most important is that it is 86 percent state funded.
The amount of money each Nelsonville resident will pay depends on the value of his or her property. For example, a taxpayer with a home with a market value of $50,000 should expect to pay about $61 per year.
Currently, the high school and elementary school are housed in the same building, but the middle school is at a separate location. If the bond issue passes, the district would build an addition onto the high school and elementary school building to house the middle school. There also would be a new cafeteria and library for grades 6-12. Also, repairs and updates would be made to the entire building.
Forty-four years ago (the middle school) was pretty nice but for us to bring technology in we need to update our electrical system
Bayat said.
Parts of the junior high and the high school still have their original plumbing and have ungrounded outlets, maintenance director Ron Nash, said. The bond issue could help the district save on technology costs by providing a new electric system that is designed to handle today's technology.
We're going to provide a good learning environment where one school is not nine miles away from us. It'll be easier on the parents
Nash said.
Passing this bond issue also would allow the school to add three or four preschool classes, Bayat said. Currently, the district only has room for one preschool classroom for mainly special needs children. Children have to either attend a private program or do not attend preschool at all, Bayat said.
Right now
we have all these kids on a waiting list to get into a preschool unit that does not exist
he said.
Other problems include restrooms that don't meet any handicapped accessibility codes at the high school, Bayat said. The high school does not have sprinkler systems and needs new fire alarms, and the air conditioning system is prone to breaking down, Nash said.
$2.5 million out of the money raised will fund local initiatives, which are projects in addition to the building projects and code updating renovations being funded by the facilities commission. With this money, the district will add four science classrooms.
The reason for including these locally funding initiatives at this time, Bayat said, is because it is cheapest to do these projects when the district is already in the building process.
According to the Athens County Board of Elections, the district passed a bond issue in May 1995, and the money went toward building a new elementary school.
Bayat said he feels confident about the chances the issue has of passing, especially because of the amount of funding being supplied by the state.
People understand that with 86 percent of state funding
you can't turn that down
or local people will eventually have to pay for it all
said Bayat.
Nash said he also feels confident about the choice taxpayers should make.
It's not the best environment to ask taxpayers and tell them we need more money
Nash said. But it's the right plan
