The Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District board of trustees unanimously approved a 2.9 mill reverse referendum to fund a planned partnership school with Mississippi State University.
The bonds will raise up to $16 million to fund the school.
The district will build the partnership school, which will serve all SOCSD 6-7 grade students, on MSU’s campus. The university has pledged $10 million, most of which comes through a land donation for a 42-acre site at the entrance to campus near Highway 182.
In April, the state legislature approved House Bill 1729, which includes $10 million in funding for the new school. SOCSD Superintendent Lewis Holloway said the state will initially allocate half of that money, and the remainder is contingent on the referendum’s success.
HB 1729 is still awaiting Gov. Phil Bryant’s signature.
Holloway said the district can issue the bond without raising taxes, thanks to 2.9 mills rolling off in October.
“We can issue these bonds without raising taxes,” Holloway said. “As (bond attorney Jim Young) told me this week, there’s no assurance of that because property value goes up and down. But we don’t think the issuing of these bonds will raise taxes at all. Taxes will stay the same on the bond, and we would have the funds to build the school.
“By doing this, not only do our taxpayers get the school, but somebody else is paying for two-thirds of it. In our book, that’s a really good thing,” Holloway added.
The district will use the funds to build the school in conjunction with MSU, along with roads, parking lots and other facility needs. Holloway said the school will be the first in the district that’s designed ground-up for its location.
The referendum document says the funds can also be used to renovate and remodel Overstreet Elementary School to accommodate fifth grade students and for general repairs and improvements to school buildings throughout the district.
If Bryant signs HB 1729 and the referendum succeeds, the district will move forward with the $30 million project. Holloway said the $16 million borrowing limit for the bonds affords the district some breathing room.
“In schools, you can’t just plan $10 million on a building because you don’t know the exact end cost,” Holloway said. “In some cases, we might save money. It’s kind of a moving target.”
The district will publish the referendum in local newspapers for three weeks, starting Thursday. Holloway said a public hearing on the referendum is set for 6 p.m. May 17 in the Starkville High School auditorium, and the public has until 11 a.m. May 27 to submit petitions in opposition to the referendum. The board of trustees will meet at noon on May 27 to approve the final bond issuance.
A petition could force the matter to a vote with signatures from 20 percent of registered voters. Holloway said that would take about 4,000 signatures.
Holloway said if all the funding comes together, he hopes to have the partnership completed by June 2018.
The partnership school has been in development since a committee that formed the consolidation plan for the Starkville and Oktibbeha County school districts recommended it. The school, while serving students, will also function as a place for education students from Mississippi State, the University of Mississippi, the University of Southern Mississippi and other colleges and universities to get real-world experience.
“We see this as a model so that we can show perspective teachers what effective teaching looks like, and what the components of that are,” Holloway said. “Once we can show people the examples of that, we think they can live up to that and begin to teach at that level.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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