WELLINGTON — As expected, the Ohio School Facilities Commission approved funding for a new elementary school in the Keystone School District along with a middle school.
The Keystone elementary project requires no local money, but voters in Wellington would have to pass a bond issue for its middle school replacement project to move ahead.
Keystone Superintendent Jay Arbaugh said the community won’t have to pay for the $16 million elementary school because it fulfilled its local share by funding part of the cost of Keystone High School as well as Keystone Middle School, which is under construction and set to open in early 2013.
“The K to grade five portion will be all on the state’s dollar,” Arbaugh said.
The new elementary school will be on Opportunity Way in LaGrange near the high school and middle school.
In Wellington, voters will get an opportunity to approve a 36-year bond issue to fund its local share of the proposed $16.8 million middle school, which would be built near Wellington High School.
The school board will likely vote on a resolution to proceed with the bond issue at a 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday at Wellington High School, said Treasurer Suzanne Wilson.
“It’s badly needed,” Wilson said of the middle school project. “We were the most needy (of the schools ranked.)”
Voters in the Wellington district will have an opportunity to decide whether to approve a 2.97-mill bond issue for construction of a new middle school and 0.5 mills for maintenance needs, according to Wilson.
The state would pay $6.2 million of the $16.8 million project while the local share would be $10.6 million.
Earlier this year, the commission ranked McCormick Middle School as the worst out of 15 school buildings that need to be replaced in its Exceptional Needs Program. The same program helped replace Elyria High School with a $71 million new school after it was ranked the worst school in the state.
Experts visited McCormick and found problems while reviewing the building’s electrical, mechanical and structural integrity, as well as health and safety issues. The original McCormick building is 155 years old, and the most recent addition is 58 years old.
Voters have rejected three bond issues to build or renovate Wellington schools.
Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.
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