On Tuesday, the Springfield Public Schools Board of Education heard the proposed ballot language that would be put before voters on April 4 if approved at an upcoming meeting.
If the language presented for a first read at the Nov. 29 board meeting stands, this is what voters in the school district will see when they go to the polls in April:
Ballot language:
Shall the School District of Springfield R-XII issue its general obligation bonds in the amount of $220,000,000 for the purpose of constructing, improving, extending, repairing, rebuilding, renovating, acquiring, furnishing and equipping new and existing school facilities and purchasing land therefore, including (1) constructing a new Pipkin Middle School and a new Reed Middle School, (2) renovating and rebuilding Pershing School, and (3) constructing and installing storm shelters at six elementary schools and safety and security upgrades at all school facilities?
If this proposition is approved, it is estimated that there will be no increase to District’s debt service property tax levy and it will remain at $0.7300 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation of real and personal property.
John Mulford, deputy superintendent with the district, said the board will be asked to approve the text at the Dec. 13 school board meeting.
Mulford said the ballot language includes the specific projects, in part, because of feedback received in response to the 2019 school bond language. The ballot language didn’t detail the projects to be targeted, and Mulford said many voters wanted to have that information on hand. Still, the bond vote passed.
The projects mentioned in the proposed bond language represent four of the top five projects recommended by a task force commissioned to look at the district’s most pressing facility needs.
The group recommended a fifth project, a new Robberson Community School ($31.7 million). But the $220 million bond falls about $12 million short of projected costs for the five projects, and district officials recommended that the elementary school project be put on pause until SPS completes demographics and boundaries studies that will help determine what capacity that elementary school and others should be.
Board member Kelly Byrne asked if the language allows the district to sell less than $220 million in bonds, should the district and its bond advisors determine that is the best course of action. Mulford said it did, adding that the district could not sell more than the specified $220 million listed in the language.
