Lansing School District developing $130 million bond request to rebuild four schools

LANSING — Lansing School District plans to ask voters to approve a 25-year, $130-million bond request which would fund the replacement of four aging schools without raising tax rates.

The Lansing School District Board of Education is developing a bond issue request that, if approved at an election on May 3, would provide funds for rebuilding Mt. Hope STEAM Magnet School, Willow Elementary, Lewton School and Sheridan Road STEM Magnet School; renovating J.W. Sexton High School; and assuring every classroom in the school district has air conditioning.

The proposed work carries an estimated cost of about $129.9 million. Paying off and refinancing old debt would allow the school district to issue the bonds without increasing the taxes paid by district residents.

“We have spent hours in the community, sending surveys and gathering information to understand the capital needs for the district,” said Superintendent Benjamin Shuldiner. “We have come to a proposal … to build new buildings in the place of older buildings that need to be replaced.”

School district officials met with the state treasury department earlier this month and will submit the bonding request package to state officials for review, Shuldiner said. He hopes to see approval in February to place the request on the ballot for the May 3 election.

School district leaders wanted to see the bond request support the entire school district and that thinking helped them land on the four schools that would be replaced — Sheridan Road STEM Magnet School is the district’s northernmost school, Mt. Hope STEAM Magnet School is one of the oldest and in greatest need of a rebuild and Willow Elementary and Lewton School in recent years have seen problems with boilers, heat and other structural issues, Shuldiner said.

The schools selected for proposed rebuilds include some of the school district’s oldest buildings, with Mt. Hope being constructed in the 1940s and Willow in the early 1950s.

“We felt, what a great opportunity to build four brand new schools, state of the art, beautiful for our children … and able to replace our older buildings,” Shuldiner said.

About $10.9 million in renovations would come to J.W. Sexton High School, according to bond proposal documents, including a complete renovation of the auditorium, air conditioning installation, athletics facility improvements and refreshing the interior components of the school, like ceilings, window shades and paint.

District officials picked Sexton for improvements through the bonding request after Lansing Eastern High School moved from its old nearly century-old building on North Pennsylvania Avenue, once the oldest school in the district, to the former home of Pattengill Academy on Marshall Street, the district’s newest building. The district invested $14 million to transform the structure into a modern high school with updated technology and furniture, new biochemistry labs and a new practice gym, among other improvements.

Everett High School has also seen millions of dollars in renovations in recent years, Shuldiner said.

“Sexton deserves that same love and the same support that these other schools do,” he said. “The bond request includes upgrades which also show this commitment as superintendent, as a school board and as a school district that we have no intention of shutting Sexton down. In fact, we want to invest in Sexton to succeed for generations to come.”

The Lansing School District Board of Education is expected to consider placing the bonding request on the May ballot during a meeting in February. A community outreach campaign would begin soon after.

Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing schools' ​$130 million bond request would rebuild four school