The Meramec Valley R-3 School District is asking voters to approve a $17.9 million bond issue to provide funds to improve school facilities, replace buses and make other upgrades.
The measure, called Proposition 1, requires a four-sevenths (or 57.14 percent) majority vote to pass.
While the bond issue would not require a tax levy increase, the district’s bond debt would be extended by four years, said Ketina Armstrong, the district’s director of communications.
The district’s total tax levy is $3.53 per $100 assessed valuation, and of that, 88 cents per $100 assessed valuation is for the district’s debt service levy.
“We could bond for more, but our district is historically very frugal with our funds,” Armstrong said. “We want to be good stewards for our taxpayers. They're very supportive of us, so we want to make sure we're using the funds appropriately and getting the most for our dollar.”
She said the funds from the bond will be used over the next four years to make improvements throughout the district.
“Probably our highest needs are Zitzman Elementary,” Armstrong said. “It's our largest elementary school, but it was built to be a 30-year structure back in the '60s.”
Armstrong said the updates to the school would come in two phases.
“The first phase would be the addition of eight classrooms, and we're really looking at those eight classrooms being a kindergarten and first grade and it would include a full size gymnasium that would also serve as a storm shelter,” she said.
Armstrong said if the proposition passes, the school district will replace it’s whole bus fleet within three years.
She said the school district’s buses are, on average, 11 years old. She said the base price of a new bus is about $88,000.
Armstrong said other projects that would be funded with Proposition 1 funds include technology updates, security upgrades and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)-accessible playgrounds with rubberized surfaces.
“If Prop 1 passes, it will definitely provide our school district with that next generation of facilities and allow us to have that next generation of learning opportunities for our students,” she said.
Armstrong said the last bond issue was Proposition K in 2017 and it passed with a 78 percent majority.
“The majority of Prop K was spent on our Doris Hoffman Early Learning Center,” she said.