KELLY TO HOLD VOTE ON SCHOOL

BENTON -- On Tuesday, voters in the Thomas Kelly School District will consider a $4.5 million bond issue to build a new high school.

It is the second time voters have been asked to fund the project. In April, a majority of voter -- 51 percent -- approved $4.5 million in bonds to build a high school, but the measure needs 57 percent to pass.

Superintendent Don Abner said, "Since we had 51 percent of the vote and we really do need the project, the board said let's put it back on in June and try again."

The April voter turnout was more than twice what was expected. "In a normal election we expect about 700 voters," he said. "We had 1,500 voters, and that was a surprise. Probably Proposition B brought out a lot of voters."

A building committee of faculty, parents and students developed the bond issue proposal. The bond would be repaid over 20 years.

Tuesday's ballot issue is exactly the same as it was in April.

If voters approve the measure, the school district will be authorized to raise the tax levy. The 49-cent increase would be a 15 1/2 percent hike in the total levy, explained Abner. Currently, the tax levy is $3.15 per $100 assessed valuation. If approved, it will go to $3.64.

Abner said the new building is needed because enrollment has outgrown the high school building's capacity. The district has had gains of enrollment as much as 5 percent each year since 1993. The high school, built in 1957, is too small for the 340 students enrolled there.

The district is using five mobile units to make extra room.

The new high school would be attached to the existing building. It would include 20 classrooms and a multipurpose cafeteria.

The school currently uses one cafeteria to feed students from kindergarten through high school. It was designed for 600 students. The district has 1,050. "It simply is not large enough," Abner said.

If built, the existing cafeteria would be used for elementary and middle-school students and the new cafeteria would be used for high school students.

Among the 20 classrooms would be two science labs, a library and a home economics lab.

The project also includes a new vocational-agriculture facility, a free-standing building on the school campus.

If approved, Abner estimated the building could be completed within two years.