Columbus Municipal School District has its bond to improve facilities.
Voters on Tuesday approved the $36 million tax-backed debt during a special election by a 1,221 (85.7%) to 203 (14.26%) margin.
Voter approval of at least 60% was required to pass the bond.
“We are so excited about this monumental step for the Columbus Municipal School District,” CMSD Superintendent Stanley Ellis said in a prepared statement to The Dispatch. “This is an opportunity our district has needed for a long time. This was by no means a CMSD effort. This referendum took our entire community. … We will continue to be transparent and provide periodic updates to all stakeholders regarding the progress.”
With the funds, CMSD plans to update facilities in three phases. The first will focus on Columbus High School and will include updating safety measures, adding a sprinkler system and repairing the school’s parking lot. The second will address safety issues and general repairs at Sale, Stokes-Beard and Cook elementary schools, including the construction of a new external gymnasium at Stokes-Beard. The final phase will make additions and corrections at the CHS athletic complex, like renovating the field house and replacing the large parking lot.
In accordance with its strategic plan, the district plans to repurpose Franklin Academy and Fairview Elementary, consolidating its elementary students into Stokes-Beard, Sale and Cook. The elementary schools would convert to grade-span learning, doing away with the current magnet program.
The district will borrow the $36 million and repay it over 15 years using ad valorem (property) tax revenue. CMSD leaders have campaigned on the promise the bond would not raise the current tax rate, since the new debt is essentially replacing a 15-year bond issued in 2009 to build the middle school. It rolled off in April.
However, if the bond had failed, patrons would have seen their ad valorem taxes drop by an estimated 11.85 mills, which for a homeowner translates to a reduction of $118.50 per $100,000 of property value.
‘A win-win situation’
For many voters, like Dawson Johnson and Shalisa Hunter, voting for the bond was a way to support the students in the district.
“It will help the schools, and it will help the community,” Johnson said. “It’s a win-win situation.”
Hunter told The Dispatch as she was leaving the polls Tuesday afternoon that she voted yes because it’s important to her that students are able to learn in adequate facilities.
“For me, it’s mainly about our kids’ education,” she said. “If one child is in need, all children are in need. I feel like if we’re going to leave a long legacy we need to leave them something positive.”
CMSD had a mixup with polling locations early in the day. In the district’s resolution for the special election, the Dean Acres neighborhood was originally slated to vote at one of the precincts designated for voters living outside the city limits. The neighborhood, which is located in Ward 1, should have been listed to vote at Townsend Community Center.
CMSD Public Information Officer Mary Pollitz said the district updated its materials Tuesday morning to let Dean Acres residents know they would be voting at the Townsend Center precinct.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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