Lowndes County residents will go to the polls May 12 to vote on a proposed bond issue for the Lowndes County School District worth $44 million.
If passed, the bond will include: $11 million for a centralized career-technical center; $26 million for a new high school on the New Hope campus; $3 million for upgrades and additions at the Caledonia campus; $1.9 million for a new field house at Caledonia; and $2 million for renovations on the West Lowndes campus.
The bond issue is the second phase of a total $75 million worth of improvements to the district in an attempt, administrators say, to stay competitive in 21st century education.
The first half of the $75 million came without a bond issue: the $23 million for a new Caledonia Elementary School already underway; money for additional classrooms on the West Lowndes campus; and funding for a new field-house in New Hope.
Now, the school board is asking for voter approval to complete the second half of the improvements.
Jeff Smith, who serves as the LCSD board attorney, said it is important that voters in Caledonia and West Lowndes realize additions to their campuses are part of the same plan that is updating the rest of the district.
“Every campus is getting something,” Smith said. “Caledonia is actually getting the most, they just got the first chunk of money without a bond issue.”
Every registered voter who lives in an area of Lowndes County served by the county school district can vote on the bond issue. Sixty percent approval is needed for it to pass.
In August, a proposed $47 million LCSD bond issue failed at the polls, with only 52 percent of people voting for it.
‘This might be best opportunity’
To taxpayers, $44 million sounds like a lot of money. And it is.
But Lowndes County tax assessor Greg Andrews told The Dispatch last week there will not be a tax increase. The district will pay off the $44 million in $3 million increments for the next 18 years. Andrews said the district is in great shape to do so, because millage values have increased dramatically over the last three to five years and will continue to do so as tax abatements for local industries roll off in the coming years. There will be an additional $6,394,080 in the district coffers in three years, another $6 million two years after that, according to Andrews.
“In the next five years, the schools will have an increase in cash-flow of $12.6 million,” he said.
Andrews said it is feasible for the district to make these improvements without a bond issue. However, pursuing one will give the district the most bang for its buck. Getting this bond issue could even mean taxes decrease in future years, Andrews said.
“If they spend it wisely, they can fund the bond issue and reduce taxes at the same time, and they should,” Andrews said.
“Bonds are the cheapest they’ve ever been and construction costs are going up daily,” LCSD superintendent Lynn Wright said. “This might be our best opportunity to get the most bang for our buck.”
Getting out of old buildings
Lowndes County Schools serve 5,100 students across three campuses. About half of those students learn in a building over 50 years old. Wright said many of the buildings were only designed to support half the students they how house. The buildings are very inefficient when it comes to using energy, the superintendent said.
“What we’re trying to do is get our children out of buildings made in the 1950s,” Wright said.
The district is trying to tear down the current New Hope Middle School, which was built in 1955. The plan is to build a new high school, and make the current high school building house the middle school. New Hope is also getting rid of the fourth and fifth grade building, built in 1958.
Some of the money would go toward the completion of master plans at the various campuses. This means improving parking lots, drainage and sewage across the district.
Prioritizing vocational education
The bond includes $11 million to construct a centralized vocational-technical center that students from all three campuses will be able to access. Right now, LCSD is one of three districts statewide without a vo-tech center.
“It is vitally, vitally needed and has been endorsed by the development LINK, the governor’s office and local workforce training,” Smith said of the vo-tech center.
Currently, students are limited to the few vocational courses offered at each individual school. A student at West Lowndes can take masonry, but not nursing like a student at New Hope, or vice versa.
Wright said vocational education has a positive impact on graduation rates. He said one year in vo-tech education gives a student a 90 percent chance of graduating. Two years in vo-tech, and that number rises to 98 percent.
“Everybody nationwide is moving toward career-technical education,” he said.
Macaulay Whittaker, the vice president of the Golden Triangle Development LINK, told The Dispatch local industry wants to see schools offer career-technical education.
“Regardless of the outcome of the bond, we hope educators will continue to offer career-technical education,” she said.
LCSD $75M master plan breakdown
What the proposed $44 million bond issue would fund:
■ $11 million centralized career-technical center
■ $26 million new New Hope High School
■ $3 million for Caledonia campus upgrades and additions
■ $1.9 million for new field house at Caledonia
■ $2 million for West Lowndes campus renovations
What the district has moved forward on with existing funds:
■ $23 million new Caledonia Elementary School
■ Additional classrooms at West Lowndes
■ A new field house at New Hope
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