JACKSON-MILTON School board votes to repeat building levy on August ballot

The district seeks $12.4 million to replace 92-year-old facilities.
NORTH JACKSON -- The Jackson-Milton School District board voted Thursday to put a 5.5-mill levy on the August ballot for the construction of a new high school and middle school complex.
A similar measure failed by 84 votes out of more than 2,000 cast two weeks ago.
"We were confident that it would pass last time and we're confident now," school board President Bart McGee said after Thursday night's school board meeting at Jackson-Milton Elementary School. "We feel that it's the most responsible way to spend the public's money."
History
Voters turned down a 5.4-mill levy May 3 to fund the replacement of the current high school and middle school on Mahoning Avenue, which is attended by about half of the district's 900 students. The main school building on that site dates from 1913.
The age and condition of the building make replacing it necessary and repairing it not feasible, McGee said.
"You could spend $2 [million] or $3 million and not notice a difference," he said.
McGee said a state agency estimated cost of repairing the building at 80 percent of the construction cost of a new building, within the Ohio Department of Education's recommended range for replacement of a school facility.
Plans call for a $12.4 million middle and high school complex to be built on 101 acres of land that the board purchased two years ago, near the elementary school.
McGee said that the board was encouraged by a large turnout in the last referendum and by the participation of nearly 30 area residents on a committee in support of the levy.
The one-tenth mill difference in the increase that will be sought in August and the millage on the May ballot is due to a decrease in total assessed property value in the school district since the first measure was put on the ballot, board treasurer John Zinger said.