J-M board considers special ballot for levy

The deadline for special election issues is May 19.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NORTH JACKSON -- The Jackson-Milton school board is expected to meet Friday to vote on a resolution to place a bond issue narrowly rejected by voters this week on a special election ballot.
Superintendent Warne Palmer said the meeting is set for 7:30 a.m. in the board office.
To place an issue on the August special election ballot, information must be submitted to the county board of election by May 19. The issue would require two readings by the school board.
Unofficial votes from the Mahoning and Trumbull county boards of elections show the 5.4-mill, 28-year bond issue was defeated 1,107 to 1,023. Those vote totals include 47 people who voted on the issue in Trumbull County.
The bond issue would have raised about $12.4 million during the 28-year period.
Palmer said the school district wants to replace the middle-high school building on Mahoning Avenue in North Jackson with a newer facility.
The school district paid $300,000 for 100 acres for the new school. The land is beside the elementary school on Mahoning Avenue.
"It's near the center of the school district, right at the Jackson Township-Milton Township line," Palmer said.
Outdated buildings
The middle-high school was originally built in 1913 and has undergone five or six additions since then, the superintendent said. But the building is showing its age.
The school district initially wanted to replace the elementary school building also, but voters rejected that effort.
The bond issue is being requested through the state's expedited local partnership program. Through that program, the district must overhaul both school buildings.
They decided to go in phases. The first phase is building a new high school, which the board wants to do with all local money through a bond issue.
If that is approved, the district would seek state funds, probably in 2011, to help renovate the elementary school.
The elementary building was built in 1974 during an era when open classrooms were in vogue. Walls were later constructed, leaving small class space and requiring some pupils to walk from their classrooms through other classrooms to get to the hallway.
"It's a bad design for educational purposes," Palmer said.
If voters turn down the bond issue again, the district will have to reapply to get money from the state.
The superintendent said the committee he worked with to raise awareness of the levy's importance was the best he's worked with in his five years as superintendent.
He attributed the loss to peoples' weariness of paying taxes.
"We had a very high turnout for this community," he said.