School board considers $96.5M in renovations

The board considered the package at its Dec. 7 meeting and will vote on it in January. If approved, the package would go to voters April 4 as a proposed 18-cent increase in the district’s debt service levy, which currently stands at 33 cents.

The plan includes projects suggested by a citizens long-range planning committee, a citizen survey and district administrators.

The $96.5 million generated would fund:

• Air conditioning for 18 of the remaining 35 district sites without air conditioning;

• Remodeling and additions to Weaver, Weller and Gray elementary schools;

• A new elementary school in the southwest part of the district;

• Replacement or significant renovation of Cherokee Middle School;

• The addition of eight classrooms at Wilson’s Creek 5-6 School;

• New and remodeled science and technology labs at Kickapoo, Glendale and Hillcrest high schools; and

• Continued renovation of Parkview High School.

Additional projects will be considered in a long-range plan that the district is developing.

What’s the cost?

The debt service levy increase the Springfield school board is considering would raise the levy by 18 cents per $100 of assessed value of property. Under the proposed increase, the owner of a home with an appraised value of $100,000, which would have an assessed value of $19,000, would pay $96.90 annually, an increase of $34.20. The owner of commercial property with an appraised value of $300,000, which would have an assessed value of $96,000, would pay $489.60, an increase of $172.80.

This story originally appeared in SBJ’s Dec. 8 e-news Daily Update. Click here to register.