Voters in the Goddard, Kan., school district on Tuesday approved a bond issue for $52 million worth of school improvements.
According to unofficial results posted by the Sedgwick County election office, about 69 percent of voters voted "yes" for the bond, which will finance upgrades to all 12 schools in the district. The vote was 1,766-780.
The plan calls for storm shelters to be added to nine schools in the form of classroom wings, libraries, cafeteria additions or multipurpose rooms. The bond also will be used to replace roofs, pave parking lots, upgrade heating and cooling systems, retrofit lighting and install intruder hardware on classroom doors.
It will increase the district's mill levy by 1.9 mills -- about $22 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home.
"We are just so excited that it passed and that our patrons once again have stepped up to support our kids," said Ruth Wood, president of the Goddard school board.
"You never really heard anything real negative, but anything that has to do with taxes, you just never know."
The bond approved Tuesday is the Goddard district's first in a decade. Goddard's last bond issue in 2007 provided funding for three new schools, including Eisenhower High School, which opened in 2011.
The district, which includes parts of west Wichita, enrolls about 5,700 students.
Wood said supporters were pleased and relieved by Tuesday's vote. The board soon will begin about 90 projects the bond issue will finance.
"We just really appreciate the support of all of our community," she said. "Now we've got work to do to get busy building all that."
