HAYSVILLE, Kan. (KSNW) — USD 261 is preparing a $78 million bond to repair and improve existing buildings. The district says the bond will not increase the mill rate.
“We have a lot of maintenance items that we have to kind of get back under control,” said Craig Ryan, assistant superintendent of finance and business operations. “We have roofs and HVAC units and parking lots and some of the not fun stuff to really do. But we’re also looking at the potential of maybe doing an extension with a CTE building and doing some things like that on the side to help students be successful after high school.”
The career and technical education building allows students to get certified for different jobs and things that they can get right out of high school with a certificate. Ryan says the program is becoming so popular that the building needs an expansion to accommodate more kids.
“We have basically three options,” Ryan said. “You have the first option, do nothing, and basically, that’s not a great strategy because things are going to continue to deteriorate. You also could use capital outlay, and we could do a 20-year-plan and maybe get about three years down the road before we would find out that would not be a good strategy. We just don’t have enough in our capital outlay fund to be able to do the improvements we need to do.”
USD 261 will take the proposal to the board this month or next for approval, getting on the ballot possibly in April.
“We have not had it approved through the board yet, but we’re getting community support and putting surveys out there,” Ryan said. “We want everybody to be involved in this process. We’ve done meetings at multiple schools and done tours of the facility to really show what that need looks like. And I’ll tell you, it’s been pretty unanimous across the board that we need we need some things looked at and fixed and get us back up to the right standard. We’ve gotten a lot of support for this bond, and we feel like it’s probably something that we need to do.”
On October 8, there will be a community meeting at Campus High School at 7 p.m.
Eli Rueda has three kids in the district and says the community meeting changed his mind.
“I think it makes it a lot easier to enjoy going to school and actually want to learn when you don’t have to worry about the little stuff,” Rueda said. “I think that while it’s possible for kids to walk uphill both ways and still get a good education, I think it makes it a lot easier when their classroom isn’t leaking, their air conditioner is working. I don’t think spoiling the kids is giving them a healthy place to be in.”
Rueda encourages everyone to go to the meetings to learn the facts.
“So, I think before people actually go out and vote, they really should look at the material. I know they have links up there that you can go look online or at least attend one of these meetings,” Rueda said. “I think you can make an informed decision when voting, and I think that if you’re on the fence about it, definitely attending this will hopefully sway you to yes. But even if you vote no, at least you’ll be informed, and I think that’s really important.”
