The Batesville School Board has approved a rescheduled date for a bond vote originally planned for last year.
At its regular monthly meeting Monday afternoon, the board set the new date for Sept. 14, 2021. The motion for the date rescheduling passed by a unanimous vote.
The campaign, entitled “Secure Our Future (SOF),” was originally planned for a Spring 2020 vote, but it was postponed due to the pandemic.
The SOF goals include:
- 102 classrooms — Space for now and the next 10 years
- Safety for all campuses — Six storm shelters, 62 entrances.
SOF stakeholders told the board the time utilized during the pandemic, as well as the district’s reduction of some debt, allowed the group to do more work and actually lower the plan from 8.4 mills to 5.95 mills — the minimum of what the group feels it can do — for the same amount of money.
Below is a chart of the $49.5 million plan’s impact on the “typical assessed value” of personal property, according to a presentation for the board on Monday:
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The board also unanimously approved a motion to purchase four modular buildings for classrooms to address overcrowding and social distancing in the upcoming school year.
Assistant Superintendent David Campbell told board members the cost breakdown included with the original agenda reflected an estimated cost of $486,596 to purchase the four buildings.
However after he and other district officials repurposed the original layout for the buildings, Campbell said the estimated cost will now come in less than the $486,596 amount.
Two of the buildings will be utilized at Eagle Mountain while one will be placed at the junior high campus and the other at West, Campbell told the board.
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