Altoona voters deny school referendum
Apr. 4—ALTOONA — Voters narrowly shot down a $26 million referendum that would have allowed Altoona school district to repurpose a large business building to help with its classroom space crunch.
Unofficial results on Tuesday night showed the referendum failing though a 1,531-1,614 vote with all precincts reporting.
The referendum asked voters to approve $26 million in borrowing for building projects. Of that, $23 million was to buy and remodel the National Business Institute building, 1218 McCann Drive, so it could be used for the district's 4K, kindergarten and first grade classes. The other $3 million in the referendum would've paid for smaller capital maintenance projects at Altoona Middle School.
The additional borrowing would've added $69 per $100,000 of property value to tax bills, according to an estimate the school district provided in January.
Altoona schools leaders sought the referendum to add classroom space to accommodate student enrollment growth. In six years the district's student headcount has gone up just over 11%. There were 1,696 students enrolled in 2017-18, but it has climbed to 1,891 in the current school year.
As the school district pondered how to handle the rising numbers, its leaders learned in fall that the National Business Institute's building was for sale. ATSR Architects told the district that buying and renovating the building would be an estimated 25% cheaper than building a new school.
That wasn't the only option the school district was weighing, but it did appear to have a better chance than more costly ones.
Altoona schools sent out a survey to residents in early fall to poll eligible voters about what they'd be willing to support. Choices ranged widely from no referendum to one for $72.5 million.
Results of the survey indicated that over half of likely voters would be on board for a referendum in the $20 million range. Support fell when those surveyed were asked about referendum options with additional projects that increased the cost to $35 million and above.
In December the Altoona school board voted to put the $26 million question on the April ballot — 8 1/2 years since the last time it had asked voters for a building project.
Voters in the school district approved increasing building space through a November 2014 referendum. Altoona Elementary was built using $17 million out of the $23 million approved by voters in that election. The remaining funds were used to remodel the middle and high school complex after the elementary grades were moved out of it and relocated to their new building.
