Voters will get their say this fall on another bond proposal to rebuild and repair Wichita schools.
The Wichita Board of Education voted 6-0 Monday to put a proposed $615 million bond issue on the Nov. 3 ballot. Board member Amy Warren was absent.
Board president Stan Reeser said the district has listened to community members while building the proposal. Staff chose the plan from among three initial options after collecting feedback from community members in April.
“We have asked a million questions about this,” Reeser said. “We have vetted this over and over, and this is the time, and the way this bond effort grew organically proves that it's time.”
The plan would divide projects across two ballot questions: the first totaling $407.1 million and the second totaling $207.9 million. The first question could pass on its own, but the second one would be contingent on the first one passing.
The first proposal focuses mainly on repairing the district’s oldest schools.
Key projects in the first ballot question include improving heating and air-conditioning systems across the district, rebuilding several elementary and middle schools and preserving Wichita’s six oldest high schools.
The second ballot question would renovate more schools, enhance career training classrooms, and renovate OK Elementary School into an early childhood center.
Monday’s meeting had a packed house. Representatives with Vote Yes Yes for Wichita Kids — an advocacy group’s updated name that reflects the two-part ballot question — passed out neon-colored shirts to members of the crowd.
Luis Rodriguez, the group’s chairman, said approval of the bond would improve facilities and also help teachers. Funding more capital improvement projects with bond money would free up other funds to pay teachers, he said.
“We create room for teachers to be paid what they deserve, and the result will be a better educated generation of kids that are going to fill our jobs in our city, that are going to be the generation of kids to take care of us and beyond,” Rodriguez said.
Voters narrowly rejected a $450 million bond referendum last year. While the dollar amount is about $165 million higher this time around, Wichita Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said that’s a reflection of rising building costs.
Rodriguez said the committee wants to clearly communicate this bond’s transparency and oversight to a distrustful electorate. He believes that will make the difference this time around for the bond’s passage.
“My hope is our committee can do a better job of showing the high trust that we should have in this administration and our district,” Rodriguez said. “We can do this. The right attitude is to say yes, and let's make sure it works.”
If both questions pass, the district estimates the plan would raise taxes for a $200,000 house by about $50 per year. If only the first question passes, the district said it would not impact property taxes.
