Oklahoma City Public Schools passes largest bond in district's history

A $955 million bond issue that Oklahoma City Public Schools pitched as a transformational opportunity to bring its facilities and resources on par with suburban school districts passed Tuesday with more than the necessary 60% support, despite a late push against it over charter school objections.

Proposition 1, which asked for $936 million for school improvements, received 64% of the vote from district residents. The second proposition, requesting $19 million for school buses and vehicles, gained 62%.

Together the two propositions are the largest bond issue in the school district's history.

The Oklahoma City district pledged to build two new high schools, expand Taft Middle School and consolidate four southside schools in new buildings, among numerous other projects.

More coverage: Want to know what the OKCPS bond would go toward? Here's a list of every project.

School district voters agreed to raise the mill levy on their property taxes to 26 mills, or $26 for every $1,000 of assessed property value. The increase would equate to $6 a month more, or $78 dollars a year more for a $100,000 home. This is the district's first mill levy increase since 2001.

Superintendent Sean McDaniel said the district is appreciative and encouraged voters to "continue holding us accountable."

"I'm grateful that the focus for them, for us, is our kids, that they saw something in the two propositions, that they see something in the district, they see something in the children that attend our schools that compelled them to go and vote the way they did," McDaniel said at an election night watch party at the district's administration building. "Continue engaging because we've got much more to come. We certainly aren't anywhere near where we'd like to be in a lot of different areas, but our arrows are starting to align."

The district’s last bond issue passed in 2016 and generated $180 million. The 2016 issue was the district’s second bond in 15 years.

Meanwhile, peer school districts have passed bond issues with greater regularity and at higher mill levies than the Oklahoma City district. Since 2010, Edmond Public Schools poured $476 million into its district through six bond elections. Its mill levy sits between 24 and 25 mills.

Tulsa Public Schools, with a 26.63 mill levy, passed $1.2 billion in bond issues in the past 12 years. Moore Public Schools charges 26.31 mills while Deer Creek Public Schools leads the metro area by charging $32.13 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.

Oklahoma City’s near-$1 billion bond would cover renovations, maintenance and equipment at every school in the district, where the average school building is 72 years old. It also would support the cost of maintenance for charter schools that occupy district-owned buildings.

Bond takes criticism on behalf of charter schools

Criticism of the bond ramped up shortly before the election. Recent mailers and digital advertisements urged district residents to vote it down and not “feed the tax monster.” The flyers and ads did not include any information of who paid for them.

Some suggested the bond should fail because it didn’t offer money to all charter schools operating within the Oklahoma City district’s boundaries, even ones not affiliated with the school district. Charter schools, under state law, cannot issue bonds of their own.

“All students living within the OKC district's boundaries ― regardless of the type of public school they attend ― deserve to benefit from a $1 billion tax increase on all OKC district residents; they sure will be paying for it,” Raul Font, president of the Latino Community Development Agency, wrote in an opinion column submitted to The Oklahoman.

McDaniel called it a "curious argument, and it's just not one that I buy."

Only charter schools that lease buildings from the school district would receive any financial help — in this case, in the form of maintenance and lower rent fees.

To do so for any other charter school would be a gift of public funds and a violation of state law, the district said.

“According to Oklahoma law, OKCPS legally cannot invest bond dollars into any building, including a charter school building, that the district does not own,” general counsel Jessica Sherrill said in a statement.

OKC students: The $955 million bond is 'essential'

A group of Oklahoma City high school seniors said they eagerly hoped the bond would pass.

While hosting a small forum discussion in their school library on Friday, the seven classmates said other schools should have the same resources they enjoy at Classen High School of Advanced Studies at Northeast, one of the top high schools in Oklahoma for academic performance.

“We recognize our school is very privileged in our access to fine arts and a very good-quality education,” said Student Council President Semony Shah, 17. “That’s why I think the bond is so essential not only to our school, but to the community because those two things have definitely made my high school experience so worthwhile. I really want every student in OKCPS to have those opportunities.”

Classen SAS senior Ameia Booker, 17, feared what would happen if the bond failed.

“If we don’t get this bond, we will see a deterioration in our buildings and our available education,” Ameia said. “Further down the line, that’s just going to harm the students rather than help them.”

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma City Public Schools passes nearly $1 billion bond issue