West Marshall voters to decide on $14 million bond issue again in November election | News, Sports, Jobs

STATE CENTER — If at first you don’t succeed, pick yourself up and try again.

After last year’s $14 million bond issue fell short of a 60 percent supermajority and received just 56 percent support at the polls, voters in the West Marshall Community School District will have another chance to approve it on Nov. 4. As Superintendent Jacy Large explained during a recent interview, nothing has changed: the proposed package would pair $14 million in voter-approved General Obligation (GO) bonds with $7 million in Securing an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) funds to go toward two major projects — the construction and furnishing of a new two-story K-5 building at the elementary that replaces the three-story building currently housing grades 4-5 and an addition connecting the middle and high school buildings with a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) space for students. It also includes a new drop off and parking area at the elementary school.

According to Large, district leaders still prefer keeping the elementary school on Main Street with a historic look as opposed to a completely new build that would likely cost upwards of $30 million, a figure beyond West Marshall’s maximum bonding capacity.

“That would also give us the ability for an early childhood care facility, which is tripled. So, right now, we run a preschool center at an old annex wood shop building. They would then come over to the K-3 building to the south, and we can basically ramp up and vamp the need for early childhood because we’ve offered wraparound care and that’s the part that’s really tripled — summer care kids,” he said. “We push almost 80 kids where, you know, two years ago, we were hovering around 30. So we’d really maximize that.”

Information provided on a website dedicated to the bond issue indicates that the new elementary “doubles (the) current footprint with eight additional classrooms, expands both east and west classrooms designed to meet the diverse learning needs of today’s students and rebuilds on the same site, replacing the well-worn 1923 building with a modern, student-ready facility.” The classrooms would also be 40 percent larger. The CTE addition, Large noted, would help to expand the district’s offerings in STEM subjects such as woods, small engines, robotics/computer science, engineering, FFA, human services, business, metal fabrications, automotive electrical service, diesel mechanic electrical service and construction, serving students in grades 4-12.

In assessing why last year’s bond issue fell short of the required supermajority, the superintendent said the number one hesitation was the fact that they were competing with another $1.5 million bond issue within the city of State Center for a new fire station, which passed with the support of 61 percent of voters who cast ballots.

Currently, West Marshall’s overall levy rate is $11.25 per $1,000 of valuation, the lowest figure in Large’s decade as superintendent, and he said they have been able to maintain a ratio that funds operational costs without having to buy down any tax off the general fund levy. The only other primary concern he heard during the last cycle was from a resident who preferred a new location for the elementary school, but the much higher expense projections from the architectural and engineering firms the district is working with have rendered such a project all but impossible.

The proposed bond would increase the district’s tax askings by about $1.90 per $1,000 of valuation, less than half of the maximum $4.05 capacity.

“We wouldn’t even have the capacity to build a new elementary per se, and that’s the thing is you’ve got to have your gym, library, commons area, and lunchroom, so we’re not having to pay for that additional square footage,” Large said.

Between now and Nov. 4, advocates for the bond issue plan to recruit more ambassadors into the fold with 15 or 16 already onboard to distribute yard signs and t-shirts and attend community meetings to make the case with dates yet to be announced. Large said they will rely on local individuals interested in stepping up as opposed to hiring an outside marketing/public relations firm to handle communications ahead of the vote.

The ambassadors group is set to meet at the Kauffman Shelter House on Thursday, Aug. 21, and a website, https://sites.google.com/wmcsd.org/westmarshall2025-bond/home, along with a Facebook page called “West Marshall Best Marshall” have been established to support the bond.