Austintown voters face bond issue for new high school

Austintown voters face bond issue for new high school

AUSTINTOWN

Austintown School District officials have said over the past few months it would be cheaper to build a new high school rather than renovate, but some residents question the need to replace a building that is 50 years old.

The board of education voted in January to put a 4.1-mill bond issue on the May 6 ballot to raise funds to build a new Fitch High School. The state has awarded the district $31 million, 47 percent, of the estimated $68 million project.

The other $46 million would be raised through the bond and includes a Locally Funded Initiative, $9 million, to pay for renovations to the gym, auditorium, football stadium, and classrooms by the auditorium. The initiative goes strictly to renovation of items not covered by the state’s guidelines, making the district pay for those improvements to bring those parts of the high school up to current building-code standards.

The total cost of the project is $77 million.

Read full story in Monday’s Vindicator.