The Wichita school district will ask voters in February to approve a $450 million bond issue to finance school construction and other improvements — a plan leaders say will reduce the district’s overall footprint and make it more efficient.
School board members voted 6-1 on Monday to hold a special election Feb. 25. It will be the first bond election for Wichita schools since 2008 and only the third since 1974.
Board president Stan Reeser said Wichita waited to ask for a bond issue while other area districts have built new, modern schools.
Wichita’s enrollment has declined over the past seven years, and consultants say schools need more than $1.2 billion in repairs and maintenance.
“Our kids deserve this investment,” Reeser said. “They deserve the same opportunities and the same exciting, innovative things that some of our surrounding communities have.”
Board member Kathy Bond voted against a resolution to send the bond issue to voters. She did not comment Monday, but has voiced concerns during previous meetings about the scope and timing of the bond proposal.
District leaders say the plan will not increase the tax rate. But it would extend a current bond tax for an additional two decades.
The bond plan calls for building five new elementary schools and two middle schools. It would also build a new early childhood center, convert two elementary schools to K-8 schools, add a career center focused on construction trades, and add athletic fields to Northeast Magnet High School.
After Monday’s decision to send the bond to voters, the school board hired the Ohio-based Woolpert consulting firm to manage an information campaign leading up to February’s election.
The district will pay Woolpert $312,000. It will also pay Sedgwick County about $113,000 to manage the special election.
The last bond issue for Wichita schools was approved in 2008 by a narrow 2% margin. That $370 million plan built nine new schools, including Northeast Magnet High School and the new Southeast High.
In April 2000, Wichita voters approved a $284.5 million bond issue, which focused primarily on air-conditioning and other infrastructure upgrades.
The last bond issue prior to that was in 1974.
Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said the proposed bond plan incorporates information from consultants, employees, board members and the public.
“We’ve been listening. We’ve been taking in this feedback, and I believe have a plan that can reshape our school district and be really exciting for our kids and our families,” Bielefeld said.
Monday’s vote comes just six months after the board decided to shutter six schools to help fill a $42 million budget gap.
If the bond issue does not pass in February, Bielefeld said more school closings would be imminent — but without new schools for the students to move into.
“Financially, we cannot keep up all of these buildings. We just do not have the resources for it,” he said. “In order for school districts to fund their facilities, they need bond issues.”
Reeser, the board president, urged voters to put the bond proposal into context by looking at per-capita costs of recent bond issues in other districts.
Valley Center, for example, passed a $59 million bond issue in May. Divided among that district’s 3,200 students, the bond issue cost more than $18,000 per student, Reeser said.
Comparatively, Wichita’s $450 million plan, divided by its 47,000 students, comes out to about $9,500 per student.
“It’s easy to get focused on how large this is,” Reeser said. “But when you figure it out per capita, this is a very, very modest investment that we are asking … the community to make.”
Suzanne Perez reports on education for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @SuzPerezICT.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KMUW, KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
