5 metro-area school districts have bond proposals on the ballot. What are they seeking?

One of Oklahoma’s fastest-growing school districts and another district addressing damage to facilities caused by a tornado last April are among five in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area seeking approval from voters of bond proposals during the April 2 election.

The Piedmont and Shawnee school districts will be joined by their counterparts in Luther, Prague and Coyle in voting on bond proposals, which need a supermajority of 60% for approval.

Piedmont Public Schools, a district that covers the city of Piedmont and serves parts of Canadian, Oklahoma and Kingfisher counties, is proposing an 11-year, $113 million bond, the largest in the district’s history. Bond money would pay for the construction of a new intermediate school and a new elementary school. District officials say taxes won’t be raised if the bond proposal is approved.

The Piedmont school district also would build safe rooms that double as classrooms at Stone Ridge Elementary, add playgrounds and artificial turf at all its elementary school sites, replace updated band instruments, buy a new band truck and trailer, buy new school buses, address deferred maintenance needs, and expand the bleachers at the district’s football stadium, among other items.

The district includes an early childhood center, three elementary schools, an intermediate school (for fifth through sixth grades), a middle school and a high school, which now competes in athletics in Class 6A, the state’s highest level.

“Piedmont is the place to be,” district Superintendent Drew Eichelberger said in a video about the bond proposal on the district’s website. “Teachers want to teach here. Parents want their kids to be here. And so we kind of create some of our own problems by the fact that when you’re good, people come toward that.”

Once a small town and district — the district had only 1,400 students in 2001 — Piedmont has seen enormous growth, with the school system serving more than 4,500 students for the 2023-24 academic year. Eichelberger said the district had research into its growth potential done by Zonda, a real estate research firm in Dallas, that indicated Piedmont’s district enrollment could grow to as many as 8,000 students within the next 10 years.

“I think that’s probably conservative,” he said. “I think we could be higher than that. But we’ve got to plan on 8,000, and so we’ve got to do our due diligence to plan for what Piedmont looks like in the next 10 years.”

Shawnee's bond proposal comes as district looks to rebuild after tornado damage

Across the metropolitan area in Shawnee in Pottawatomie County, the school district is still dealing with the aftermath of the April 19, 2023, tornado that damaged some facilities, including those used by the wrestling and tennis teams, as well as those that served agriculture classes and band classes. The tornado also damaged the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems at multiple school sites.

The Shawnee district will have two propositions on the ballot. One, for $39.5 million over 10 years, would provide for a rebuild of the Stucker Complex (the wrestling facility) that would include a safe room, help cover some noninsured costs for replacing HVAC units and pay for the district to restore the tennis facility and build a new agriculture facility. It also would pay for new band uniforms and marching band storage adjacent to Jim Thorpe Stadium, the district’s football facility.

The second proposition would provide for renovations and improvements at the district’s five elementary schools. It would reallocate $8.1 million from a 2016 bond issue that originally was allocated for a new elementary school that the district says now is no longer needed.

“This bond package is the largest and most comprehensive student investment plan in the history of Shawnee, all with no tax increase,” Shawnee Superintendent Aaron Espolt said in a letter to district families. “If voters vote to approve this student investment plan, it will fundamentally change the opportunities and educational environment we offer to our students, staff, and community.”

Three smaller districts also have bond proposals on the ballot

Other metro-area districts seeking approval for bond proposals include:

• Luther Public Schools in eastern Oklahoma County, which has put a $28.6 million package in front of voters. The district had a $43 million proposal rejected in September, with only 57.7% of voters in favor of it. The current proposal will include a new middle school safe room and cafeteria, a new elementary school media center safe room addition, a new pre-kindergarten safe room addition, and other additions and renovations, including some for the middle school cafeteria.

• Prague Public Schools, which has a $28.33 million proposal centered around what essentially would be construction of a new high school building. Two wings of the existing building would be demolished, with a third wing and the exterior of the remaining portions of the existing building each receiving a major renovation. The new school would include additional furniture, fixtures and equipment. The Lincoln County district had a $22.41 million bond proposal fail in April 2023 with 56.2% of the vote.

• Coyle Public Schools in Logan County, which has a $1.44 million proposal that would help pay for renovation of the school cafeteria, improvements and upgrades at the district’s high school and elementary school, roofing improvements, demolition of old or unusable building space, locker rooms and halls, and site work. Voters rejected two proposals totaling nearly $30 million last October, with the larger one receiving less than 40% of the vote.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Piedmont, Shawnee are among local school districts with bond proposals