District looking to make facility improvements with possible bond issue

Harry Loomis, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·2 min read

Nov. 29—The St. Joseph School District is seeking to add a $20 million no-tax-increase bond to the April 2024 ballot in hopes of upgrading the school's athletic facilities.

"Our stadiums, there's a lot of history and there there's a lot of pride," Superintendent Gabe Edgar said. "It is time to do some upgrades and I think it's something that the community can get behind because if you have a student that goes to Central or Benton or Lafayette, they travel to these places and athletic facilities are just different."

The proposed measure will be a no-tax-increase bond issue.

"In order to keep our debt service levy at $0.53, we need to put something on the ballot in April or August to run a no tax increase, which no tax increase means that it's not a tax increase to the community, but it is an extension of the debt," Edgar said.

Edgar mentioned running tracks and fields as areas that could be improved. Both Benton and Lafayette's tracks are just six lanes compared to the standard track's eight.

If the bond passes, district fields likely would all be turned into turf.

"As of right now, I would think that it would be safe to say that half of the budget would be used on that," Edgar said.

The list of ideas is expected to be condensed when Edgar and the rest of the Board of Education meet to discuss the bond on Dec. 5.

Edgar hopes to get feedback from more than just board members.

"We'll put together probably $30 million worth of stuff and then prioritize that down as a Board of Education to $20 million," Edgar said. "I would like to get, you know, some representatives from the staff and also some reference representatives from the student body, you know, to be part of that decision-making. So it can kind of be holistic. It's not just driven by administration."

Not all of the money is expected to go toward athletic complexes, as the board has several other projects they would like to address.

"There's a lot of schools that don't have any sidewalks, so that could be a piece of it," Edgar said. "We still have some places that don't have (full) air conditioning, that are fully air-conditioned, at Bodie and Truman. So that could be something to look at as well."