Voters in West Chester and Liberty townships will decide whether to fund a $223 million bond for Lakota Local School Districts long-term plan to expand two high schools and close older buildings.
Butler County's Issue 2 asks voters to approve a 37-year bond, which wouldn't start collecting until 2029 after an existing bond expires. If passed, residents would pay $77 each year per $100,000 of home value, or around $6.42 per month, according to the district's website.
Last year, voters rejected a $506 million bond issue to fund the master plan.
Why is Lakota asking for the bond?
The bond would fund Lakota's Master Facilities Plan, a long-term renovation, expansion and demolition project.
The district said the renovations are needed because older buildings and buildings with lots of
students are getting harder to maintain. Changes to existing buildings would also address overcrowding and an expected enrollment increase, according to the district's website.
Lakota's enrollment, now around 17,500 students across the district, is still increasing, with the district expecting over 19,000 students by 2033. It's over capacity by over 700 students, according to the district.
The district also said on its website that timing for the November 2026 bond issue is important. The board of education accepted $77 million in state funding for the project, which is available only if voters approve a bond issue. If the issue fails in November, Lakota has two more attempts to pass a bond issue before the state takes back this funding.
"The longer Lakota waits, higher construction costs and inflation could impact the total cost of the plan," Lakota's website said. "Delaying also risks Lakota's percentage from the (Ohio Facilities Construction Commission), as it can change."
What exactly will Issue 2 fund?
If approved, the district would demolish three buildings, decreasing the total number of buildings in the district from 21 to 18. The three buildings are:
- Adena Elementary School
- Ridge Junior School
- West Freshman/Creekside/Lakota Central building
The district would also renovate and add to several buildings, including East Freshman, Plains Junior, Lakota East High School and Lakota West High School.
Ultimately, these renovations would allow Lakota to reconfigure which grades are in which schools and limit the number of times students transfer buildings. For instance, Lakota East and West freshmen attend separate campuses − under the new plan freshmen would go to the main campuses with the rest of their high school classmates.
The new configuration would be:
- Preschoolers attend Liberty Early Childhood School
- Grades K-5 attend the district's remaining 13 early childhood, elementary and junior schools
- Grades 6-8 will go to school in the current East Freshman and Plains junior buildings
- Grades 9-12 will attend the Lakota East and West High Schools
If voters approve the issue, construction on the new renovations are expected to start in June 2027, with students using the new facilities at the start of the 2029-2030 school year. Demolition on the three buildings would start in August 2029.
Bond issues have faced opposition
Lakota's larger bond issue failed last year, with 60.8% of voters rejecting it. The ask for more taxpayer dollars faced mixed support and opposition, with some critics saying it would disproportionately impact fixed-income families and retired residents. Critics and the district also disagreed about exactly how much money the issue would cost taxpayers.
After the issue failed, the board revised the originally $700-million project. Now, the current estimated cost is $300 million.
The school board voted unanimously in June to put Issue 2 on the ballot.
Board member Benjamin Nguyen said in a Facebook video he would vote "no" on the issue and encouraged others to do the same. While he originally supported putting the issue on the ballot, he said in the video that "the district should be honest about how big this request really is, in its entirety."
He said the November issue would just be one part of the taxpayer ask. He said the district will also have to ask taxpayers for a separate 3.6 mill operating levy in 2028 to pay for teachers and support staff. If the November issue passes, he thinks the district's taxpayers will likely not vote for this 2028 operating levy, which could lead the district to lay off teachers.
"So while we have pretty buildings, we're going to have empty classrooms and we're going to have fewer teachers because we can't afford to staff ourselves," he said in the video. "And that's not fair to this community."
On it's website, Lakota says that it an operating levy is "forecasted for 2028."
"While the master facilities plan will have operating efficiencies, there will come a time when an operating levy is needed. This is something that the District watches very closely," the website said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What to know about Butler County Issue 2, Lakota schools bond issue
