Key building bond elections are scheduled in the Lone Grove and Greenville school districts as school officials seek voter permission to extend local building programs.
Lone Grove school board is proposing a $9.9 million 3-phase package to expand elementary facilities, build a gymnasium and auditorium. At Greenville, board members are asking district voters to approve a $405,000 issue to build an early childhood center for the Pre-K and kindergarten classes, a plan that will convert the existing kindergarten facility into a larger and more suitable library.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday. School administrators remind voters that a 60 percent majority is needed to approve each of the bond issues under Oklahoma’s Super Majority law.
Each of the school districts has reached a final payment on existing bond programs. Financial consultants said each district will make the final payment next year on bonds passed in 2004. For Lone Grove this means a $4.7 million approved in May 2004 to finance a new high school has paid out with the classroom building and a band room completed on a new campus. These facilities represent Phase I of a long-range building proposal launched after the board, administrators, teachers, parents and community residents completed an in-depth study to determine what the school needed to accommodate student growth which has risenfrom around 1,200 to over 1,500.
In each case, the new bond packages will not be added to the school district ad valorem tax rolls until the final payment on existing bonds is made. The levy rate will be unchanged in the Lone Grove district. The rate in the Greenville district will be $1.13 a month, according to a financial consultant working with the board. The bond will pay out in seven years. The Lone Grove bond will be sold for a 9-year payout. Repayment rates are figured more liberal interest rate of 5-6 percent. Officials said competitive bidding usually reduces the levy to voters.
Greenville school officials want to build the new Pre-K/kindergarten facility just east of the Gladys Martin Early Childhood annex to take younger students away from a traffic pattern. School officials said the existing kindergarten classroom will be more suitable for a library. District property owners are paying out a $105,000 bond issue this year.
Voters who might be out of town or unable to visit their assigned polling place Tuesday can cast an in-person ballot today by visiting the county election board office in their respective county. In-person voting will be available from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Greenville district voters will report to precinct polling places at Marietta First Baptist Church, Love County Fair Building or the Greenville school Tuesday. Lone Grove voters will be casting ballots at the First Baptist Church, Masonic Lodge building or First United Methodist Church.
