It is rare that any election produces a result as emphatic as Tuesday’s special election in Columbus where 85.7% of voters approved a $36-million bond issue. Even the low turnout (just a little more than 1,400 voters) is rightly considered as tacit approval of the bond, which will cost homeowners in the school district an estimated $118.50 for every $100,000 of home value per year for the next 15 years. That just 203 voters would reject the bond by going to the polls Tuesday tells us all we need to know about the trust citizens have put in the district’s leadership to follow through with the plans it presented to the public prior to the election.
By contrast, Lowndes County voters approved a $44 million school bond issue in 2015 with 62.3% of the vote, just beyond the required 60% threshold and a year after a similar bond election failed to meet that threshold.
CMSD officials can now turn their attention to implement their plan.
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. Reducing the number of elementary schools from five to three should produce significant savings in faculty, staff, maintenance and transportation without sacrificing quality in the classroom.
These are the plans voters approved Tuesday either directly at the polls or indirectly by their absence from the polls.
We urge the district to keep faith with the citizens who now show their support for the schools with their hard-earned tax dollars. That means executing the plan in a deliberative and expedient manner, avoiding any temptation to deviate meaningfully from them. Similarly, the district should avoid controversy by being exceedingly transparent and fair in the awarding of contracts.
The sooner the district begins this work, the sooner the transition can be made, ultimately saving the schools money.
The public has voiced support for the district’s plan. The district can retain that trust by being deliberative and swift in the execution of the plan.
If it doesn’t, any future bond proposals will likely meet a far different fate than Tuesday’s election.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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