Residents of the Davis School District Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a $75 million bond for construction of seven new elementary schools, various capital improvements and land purchases.
Five out of five proposed bonds in Utah school districts - Cache, Davis, Jordan, Provo and San Juan - passed Tuesday. The clean sweep "speaks highly of the people of this state," said Cache School District Superintendent Steve Norton.All told, the bonds add up to $286.5 million.
As expected in a May election, turnout was low. About 10 percent of registered voters in each district punched ballots.
The Davis bond passed with a 74 percent majority (7,884 for, 2,741 against). It will fund growth for the next five years, district officials said. The money will be used to build seven new elementary schools and add classrooms in 10 others for a total of 282 new classrooms.
Superintendent Darrell White said the bond is crucial to accommodating a burgeoning student population.
The bond will also fund various renovations, including putting partial walls in the district's last open school, Bountiful's Muir Elementary. It will also be used to buy land for 11 future school sites.
Taxes on a $100,000 home will increase by $39.
The new schools will be in Kays-ville (projected completion date: September 1999), Syracuse and West Point (date: 2000), Layton, northwest Kaysville or southwest Layton, Farmington and Kaysville (date: 2001-2002).
Davis voters also approved a voted leeway, which raises the amount of taxes the school board is allowed to levy. The 69 percent victory of the voted leeway (6,838 to 3,120) was lower than the bond's, primarily because many people don't understand the complex mechanics of the voted leeway, said Assistant Superintendent Nancy Flem-ing.
Fleming said the district's effort to blanket the county in April, talking up the bond in more than 100 meetings, paid off.
"It was a nice united effort by the teachers association, the school district and the PTA," Fleming said. "It worked for us. I think the community knew we needed it."
Jordan
Residents of the Jordan School District approved a record-breaking $154 million bond, which will finance the construction of five elementary schools in various locations and a middle school and high school in Riverton. It will also fund numerous capital improvements and enable the district to buy up land for future schools.
"I am relieved," Jordan Superintendent Barry Newbold said Wednesday.
Seventy-four percent of Jordan voters (9,492 for, 3,379 against) approved raising taxes by $75 each year on a $100,000 home in the district.
With the district growing by 800 to 1,000 students every year, even the $154 million won't be enough for the long haul. Jordan officials say they have identified $280 million in needed projects and will consider another bond beginning in the year 2000.
Provo
Over 85 percent of participating voters in the Provo School District (2,277 for, 439 against) passed its $22.5 million bond, which provides funds for the construction of two new elementary schools and various capital improvements.
The bond will not increase taxes but will utilize money that will be available as current debts are paid. It will extend existing annual tax payments for another 20 years. Without it, a portion of existing debt would have expired in three years.
San Juan
San Juan School District is the only one of the five school districts that will not use its $5 million bond proceeds to fund growth. Rather, the money, together with $2 million from the state, will bring 150 Navajo students together in southeastern Utah.
The bond passed with 72 percent of voters favoring it (1,266 to 482).
Currently, the Navajo students are forced to travel as many as 51/2 hours to schools in disparate locations. The bond will finance construction of Navajo Mountain High School for their use near the Arizona border, as well as some renovations to existing schools.
The vote will finally put to rest years of legal skirmishes between the district and the American Indian tribe (as well as the U.S. Department of Justice) over whether Navajo students were being treated fairly.
Significant opposition to the bond had developed before the election. Blanding, in fact, narrowly voted against the bond. District business manager Kent Tibbitts said the opposition was probably a mixture of anti-tax and anti-Navajo sentiment.
Cache
In Cache County, voters decided on the less costly of two alternatives put to them, approving $30 million rather than $36 million in bonds, which will raise taxes by $79 per year on a $100,000 house. The proceeds will fund two new middle schools and elementaries, as well as some renovations. The $36 million option would have built a new high school in place of the middle schools.
Percentage of voters favoring the bond was 77 percent (3,738 for, 1,117 against). Percentage favoring the cheaper option was 65 percent (2,512 for the middle schools, 1,355 for the high school).
The final Cache district results came in very late - close to midnight. Good thing the Jazz were playing.
"(Watching the game on television) was the only thing that kept us sane," Superintendent Norton said.