$100M Question: School bonds

Each district is urging voters to approve bond measures April 4 that are meant to improve academic infrastructure.

“We’re all lined up, ready to pull the trigger,” said Stephen Kleinsmith, superintendent of Nixa schools. The growing district is prepared to begin five projects within a week of the vote if an $11.4 million, 20-year bond is approved.

“The only thing that can beat us is not informing the community well enough as to the merits of the ‘Yes’ vote,” he said. “We’re the old terminology – cautiously optimistic.”

If the no-tax-increase bond is approved, Nixa school officials would build a $8.9-million elementary school on Cheyenne Road, a library and stage at Espy Elementary, a career opportunity center, classrooms and science labs at the high school and spend about $200,000 for general maintenance.

Kleinsmith said the Springfield district might have a tougher time getting its $96.5 million levy increase approved. That’s because Springfield’s request involves a tax increase of 18 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

If the 20-year debt issuance were approved, Springfield property owners would pay a total of $3.51 per $100 of assessed valuation. For a family that owns a $150,000 home, the increase would mean $51.30 more in taxes annually.

A 10-cent levy increase was approved in 2000 in Springfield, but a 23-cent increase failed in the late 1990s.

“We consider this an investment in our schools and in our community,” said Springfield Public Schools spokesman Bob Keyes. “Although we’re asking voters to pay more in property taxes, the result is a stronger school district with better learning facilities for our kids. That makes the district and the entire community more attractive to families and businesses that may consider locating here.”

If approved, 24 of Springfield’s 53 school buildings would receive work, affecting more than 21,000 of the district’s 24,258 students.

Air conditioning would be installed at 15 schools, lunchrooms and classrooms would be renovated at Parkview High School, significant portions of Cherokee Middle School would be rebuilt, Kickapoo, Glendale and Hillcrest high schools would receive new science labs, and a new elementary school to hold 600 students would be built in the southwest part of the district.

Ozark also wants to build a new elementary school if voters there approve a no-tax-increase $10 million bond measure.

Brent Hanks, chairman of Ozark Education First Committee and sales manager for Dennis Hanks Chevrolet in Ozark, said a new elementary school at Highway CC and Fremont Road in the northwest part of the district would house 600 students.

“It’s something that we absolutely need, because we are busting at the seams at our other three elementary schools,” Hanks said.

Other Ozark projects would include buying new buses and upgrading computer and telephone networks.

Nixa’s Kleinsmith said all three districts should fare well at the polls.

“All (three) communities are good, strong, healthy communities that know enhancing the opportunities for public education in their community will only improve everything from real estate to quality of living,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]