Come November, Toledo voters will see the highly-discussed $7 million school construction bond on their ballot.
The Toledo School Board voted unanimously Thursday to place a $7 million bond measure in front of voters this November for a 21-year term, following a recommendation from Superintendent Chris Rust.
Should the bond pass with the required 60 percent supermajority, Toledo School District will receive $18 million in state funds to build a new high school. The $18 million is composed of a $10 million grant from the state and $8 million in state School Construction Assistance Program (SCAP) funding.
“Most of the feedback I’m getting is very positive,” said Board Chair Brad Dykstra during the board’s regular meeting.
The Toledo School District Board of Directors met Thursday evening for the second time this week. Their regular meeting followed a special meeting on Tuesday, where the board sought feedback from community members about the bond.
If Toledo voters pass the bond measure in November, the SCAP funding will become available in 2019.
“I think our obligation to the community is to make sure the information is out there for people — that we’re providing factual and complete information about what this means and what they can expect from us,” Rust said.
Rust took down questions from community members at the Tuesday meeting and posted answers to them on the district’s Facebook page. At the Tuesday meeting, ToledoTel Chief Operating Officer Dale Merten and Gee Cee’s Truck Stop founder Gail Wallace offered to front $50,000 for renderings of the new high school.
“That was a complete surprise,” Rust said. “It’s been one of those things that we have been looking at for probably a couple of years. People have wanted something visual, but the idea that we would spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on something that might never be used, it just seemed (too risky).”
Rust said the renderings could be ready as early as mid-September. Merten said on Tuesday he was willing to front the funds just to get that part of the bond discussion off the table.
“It’s a catch 22,” Dykstra said. “We have a lot of people saying ‘What are we going to get specifically? We want more details.’ But then also ‘We don’t want you to spend our money if you’re not sure that you’re going to be able to use it.’”
This is the fifth bond that Toledo School District will have put in front of voters in recent years.
