Rockwood School District voters will be asked on April 4 to approve a $95.5 million bond issue.
If approved, the measure, called Proposition T (Thrive), would finance the building of a new Eureka Elementary School, repurposing the existing Eureka Elementary for early childhood education, add classrooms to address increased enrollment, complete the renovations of high school Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) labs, create and equip elementary schools with STEM labs, and expand the district’s one-on-one technology program.
The measure will need a four-sevenths majority (57.14 percent) for passage.
The district’s debt service levy would remain at 68 cents per $100 of assessed valuation of real and personal property, although the debt would be extended by up to 20 years, depending on when the bonds are sold. The district’s overall levy is $4.6678 per $100 assessed valuation.
Rockwood Superintendent Eric Knost said the measure has been well-received in the community.
“It has been very positive, supportive,” he said. “People have appropriately had very good questions for clarification.”
District voters last approved a tax measure in April 2015, giving a $68.95 million bond issue 73.93 percent approval when only 57.14 percent was required for passage.
The April 4 measure is needed because of the 2,300 homes that are expected to be built in the district over the next five years, Knost said.
Eureka has several subdivision projects under development, including the 526-home Arbors of Rockwood, 25-home Steeple Hill Estates, 24-lot attached home Weber Hill and 10-home Cerney Estates, along with 20 two-bedroom and 20 three-bedroom units being added to the Legends Terrace In Eureka apartment complex.
The projected growth has pushed the need for a new Eureka Elementary, for which the district has already purchased a 13-acre tract in the Arbors development, as well as the need to add new classrooms to Geggie Elementary and a two-story addition to Eureka High School for the new STEM lab and additional classrooms.
The district projects an expenditure of $18.5 million to build a new Eureka Elementary and to renovate the existing school for early childhood programs. Another $41.8 million of the bond money would go toward the STEM labs at Eureka and Marquette high schools, as well as providing STEM space at the district’s 19 elementary schools. And about $6.6 million of the funding would go to Geggie Elementary for new classrooms and to Wildwood Middle School to add a multipurpose room.
Another $12 million would be set aside to expand one-on-one technology programs (giving each student access to a computer) and replace obsolete or aged equipment, and $16.6 million would be used for cycle maintenance of district facilities.
Knost said the district has not encountered significant opposition to Prop T, which calls for aggressively paying off the debt when bonds are sold. The district is projecting that the majority of the debt will be paid off in the next 10 years.
“There are some who continue to ask questions, but everyone has been very kind,” Knost said. “It has been a very appropriate and civil atmosphere leading up to the ballot measure April 4.”
While redistricting may be necessary if the bond issue does not pass, Knost said the district is not using that as leverage with voters.
“I’m not a school leader who will ever run around screaming, ‘The sky is falling,’ to get people to come out,” Knost said. “Here is the point: April 5, Rockwood is going to be a great district no matter what.
“If I’m a superintendent who says it is only going to be great if this (happens), then we need a new leader for the district. A superintendent is supposed to take the circumstances and the resources and make the best out of those things. One way or the other, Rockwood is going to be great.”