WARREN Voters must OK bond issue for new schools to be built

The recommended plan calls for five new K-8 buildings and a new high school.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Jackie Shannon supports the idea of new schools, but she worries about the prospects of passing a bond issue to help fund the project.
Shannon was one of about 100 people who attended the last public meeting Monday to get input on a master plan for new city school buildings that will be submitted to the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission.
Public meetings on a building plan started in February, said Superintendent Betty English.
The school district learned late last month it would receive funding from the OSFC this year to build new schools.
The state will pay 81 percent of the estimated $170 million project.
A bond issue must be passed to pay the remaining costs. It likely will be placed on the November ballot.
"That really is the only string attached to these monies," said James Russo, executive director of business operations.
Recommendation
The school administration has recommended building five kindergarten-through-eighth-grade buildings and a new high school to replace the 12 elementary, three middle and one high school buildings.
"I'm pretty for it," said Shannon, who attended the meeting with her husband, Pat, their son, 8, and daughter, 6.
She attended private school as a child, taking classes in a K-8 building.
Parents get involved while their children are in younger grades but that involvement sometimes fades when their children move into middle school.
Keeping pupils in the same building as they move to higher grades may prolong that parental involvement, Shannon said.
To get the OSFC money, district voters must pass a bond issue.
Some items that may be included in a building project aren't covered by OSFC money, including historical preservation, which is being considered for part of Harding High School; swimming pools, inflation, sports fields and fixed-seat auditoriums.
Estimating costs
Preliminary data discussed at Monday's meeting estimates the total bond amount at $41.5 million, which would cost the owner of a $50,000 home $98 annually.
The school board hasn't voted on what would be covered in a bond issue or the millage to be placed on the ballot.
Lynn Gibson, school board president, said the board has until late July or early August to decide on items such as what, if any, part of the high school should be preserved and what other locally funded items will be included.
Shannon believes passing a bond issue may be difficult.
Only homeowners will pay for the work, but all district voters can vote on it.
That's among the many items that must be explained before people cast ballots, she said.
dick@vindy.com