Melodie Cunningham already knows where she stands on Columbus Municipal School District’s proposed $36 million bond. As a pre-K teacher at Stokes-Beard Elementary, she’s seen the need for the funds firsthand.
“We need this,” she told The Dispatch. “We need sprinklers in our classrooms. If a fire breaks out, we don’t have sprinklers. You’ve got mold coming out of the walls. … (The bond) is really needed.”
Cunningham joined roughly 30 other citizens at Sim Scott Community Center Thursday to hear the district’s plan for using the bond to fund facility upgrades. CMSD Superintendent Stanley Ellis and Chief Financial Officer Holly Rogers laid it out: The bond will prioritize safety and security, the money will only be used on facilities and taxes will not be raised from their current rate.
The election on the bond is set for May 14. It requires 60% voter approval to pass.
The CMSD Board of Trustees passed a resolution late last month for a referendum on the bond issue. The unanimous vote came after a districtwide facilities update identified more than $90 million worth of necessary upgrades. The board narrowed down the list of updates, planning to pursue only $36 million in improvements with the bond money to avoid increasing the current tax rate.
If the bond fails, however, school taxes will significantly decrease.
Priorities, Ellis outlined, include adding life safety measures like fire alarms to multiple schools, building a new gymnasium at Stokes-Beard Elementary School and updating the district’s athletic complex.
He addressed rumors that the district would use the funds for anything other than facilities.
“I want to make absolutely sure that everybody’s clear that those funds are strictly used for facilities,” Ellis said. “We’re going to do what we say, and we’re going to be transparent.”
For Cunningham and others at the meeting, the bond already has their approval.
“I pray this bond passes,” she said. “Teachers need it. We’re the ones out here doing the footwork. We’re the ones working hard in these classrooms, and we need it in the classrooms.”
Public support and questions
John Ballard, who lives in Columbus, was supportive of the bond but said the district still has some ways to go when it comes to transparency.
“No matter what went on, in the public’s mind the story hasn’t been laid out to the point where they can say, ‘Yeah let’s do it,’” Ballard said.
He suggested the district tap into retirement communities, students and churches to involve the public and help spread the word about why the bond is necessary.
Janie Morgan, a graduate of Hunt High School, told The Dispatch she also supports the bond. She said the public meetings planned by the district are a good first step in garnering more support.
“This is the first meeting I’ve been to, and it’s very informative,” she said. “You’ve got to start somewhere. If something never gets started, it will never get finished.”
Citizens asked district representatives why now is the best time to pass the bond.
Rogers explained the district used Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds — more than $20 million since 2019 — to fund necessary updates to heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and roofing repairs.
With those updates handled and debt rolling off from a $22 million bond issued in 2009, Rogers said the district is in the perfect position to issue a new bond specifically dedicated to facilities, calling it a “rare opportunity.”
“We did it on purpose to make sure that those payments never exceeded what they are this year,” she said. “If we keep our note the same as it is right now, there’s no possible way it’s going to increase anyone’s taxes.”
With a funding opportunity presenting itself, Rogers said it was the right time to make sure the worst didn’t happen.
“A lot of our elementary schools are not equipped 100% with fire alarms,” she said. “God forbid we ever need it. But if we do and we don’t have it, I never want to have a conversation with a parent that we just didn’t have the proper tools in place.”
Johnny Judson, the volunteer running the political action committee for the bond to help with campaigning and fundraising, said the more informed the public is about why these updates are necessary, the more likely the bond is to pass.
“If we can get the people educated, I think they’ll be for it,” he told The Dispatch. “They need to be assured that their tax dollars are going exactly where intended.”
Judson encouraged citizens to go straight to the source — students — to understand why facilities need updates.
“Talk to your kids,” he said. “They’re in those schools, and they see the problems. These kids can tell you the answer to everything you ask, just talk to them.”
The district will host two more public meetings leading up to the referendum. The next meeting will be at 6 p.m. April 16 at the Townsend Community Center, and the last will be at the same time on April 18 at Joe Cook Elementary.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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