2 weeks Ago
Early walk-in voting starts Thursday for school bond proposals from the Owasso, Jenks and Allen-Bowden districts. Walk-in voting is available from 8 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday at county election boards.
Polling places will open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.
m. Tuesday. State law requires that school bond propositions receive at least 60% approval for passage.
School districts are prohibited from using bond revenue to pay for recurring costs, including salaries and benefits for teachers and support employees. Owasso Owasso Public Schools has a two-part, $197.5 million proposal.
Of that, $193 million is earmarked for capital projects, including the construction of a new Fifth Grade Center adjacent to the current Sixth Grade Center. “ Yes, the number is high for this bond, but the cost of construction and the cost of supplies has gone up, and so the bond amount is in proportion really to that,” Superintendent Margaret Coates said. “For example, we built Morrow Elementary School six years ago.
It is 100,000 square feet, and it cost the district $20 million. The Fifth Grade Center is also going to be 100,000 square feet, and it's going to cost an estimated $52 million. People are also reading.
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With district enrollment projected to grow by more than 1,100 students over the next decade, Coates said the decision to build a Fifth Grade Center — rather than additions at each of the district’s nine elementary schools or a standalone early childhood site — was based on multiple factors and community feedback through a long-range planning committee. Along with the cost and timing aspects of launching similar construction projects at each elementary school, Coates noted that adding one building to serve all fifth graders would allow for more collaboration among teachers and facilitate student in-person access to advanced classes rather than reliance on online platforms due to low numbers at individual schools. “If we tried to add on at every school, it would take way too much time, and it would cost more in the long run,” she said.
Proposition No. 1 also includes $20.2 million for a new fine arts center, $7 million to add classrooms to the Eighth Grade Center, $9.
5 million to add a safe room at the Seventh Grade Center and $19.7 million to repair or replace eight roofs around the district. The additional Eighth Grade Center classrooms were part of a previous bond issue but were cut due to increased construction costs.
Proposition No. 2 would provide $4.45 million for transportation needs.
State law requires that transportation proposals be listed separately. Based on the district’s current tax rate, the proposal would raise Owasso’s millage rate from 28.75 mills to 31 mills.
A mill is 0.1%, or $1 on every $1,000 of assessed value. For a house valued by the county assessor at $350,000, that would mean a property tax increase of $84.
38 per year or $7.03 per month. Jenks Jenks Public Schools has a two-part, $19.
5 million proposal that would not increase the district’s millage rate. Proposition No. 1 is for $18.
95 million, with $8.5 million earmarked for the final round of renovation and expansion at the Jenks Freshman Academy. In an email, Construction Services Director Jeremy Hairrell said the bond would pay for building a 64,677-square-foot addition to the school that would house a new media center and 20 classrooms, including science labs and space for aeronautics classes.
If approved by voters, construction would start in the spring of 2025 with a target completion date of August 2026. Other projects in Proposition No. 1 include new roofs for two buildings at Jenks West Elementary School; money for textbooks and classroom furniture; replacing and updating computer hardware and software across the district; and improvements to the district’s performing arts center, aquatics center and tennis facility.
Proposition No. 2 is $650,000 for new buses and other district vehicles, including passenger vans for smaller student organizations and teams. Allen-Bowden A dependent district in far northern Creek County, Allen-Bowden has a 10-year, $1.
95 million proposal to build additional classrooms and a new gym that could seat 600 people for athletics events and up to 900 people for staged events, such as commencement. If approved, the bond would not raise the district’s millage rate. “This is very much needed,” Superintendent Matthew Sweet said.
“Our gym is overcrowded, and this will allow us to do more both academically and athletically.” A similar proposal was previously rejected twice by voters, prompting Allen-Bowden’s board and administration to downsize the project to avoid increasing the community’s millage rate. As part of the bond proposal’s downsizing efforts, the district has paused its efforts to add a high school, which would require even more classroom space.
“We want the entire community to support it (adding a high school) before we try again,” Sweet said. “We took that portion out of the bond and made the building smaller.” The Tulsa World is where your story lives.
