By K.D. Norris
There as likely a sigh of relief, and finally an eye for the future, as Wyoming Public Schools district voters Tuesday approved what is essentially a $79.5 million school improvement plan by allowing the district to continue to collect the same level of millage into the future.
With 23 of 23 precincts reporting in the Nov. 7 general election, the vote was 2,377 yes and 1,075 no. The approved millage request comes after the district’s voters rejected millage increases in the spring and fall of 2013, each of which would have raised about $50 million. The last significant bond passage was in 1997, for about $41 million.
On Wednesday, district Superintendent Dr. Thomas Reeder told WKTV why this millage request was different from previous ones, and what the district’s move to modernize itself will mean to students.
“This request was significant in two ways,” Reeder said. “First, it involved no increase in the current tax levy, but extends it.
“What this will mean for students in elementary school is they will be able to see the final renovations of the high school as they complete their schooling, or before,” he added. But “current students in elementary will not see any changes at (their) elementary (schools) as this will be a 7-8 year work in progress to significantly redo all our buildings and grounds.”
The millage would pay for bonds which would be used to upgrade every district buildings, and improve safety, security and transportation systems. But the majority of the funds, about $40 million, will be spent on the high school’s two-phase makeover, including a 30-classroom addition to allow the movement of freshmen students back to the high school, as well as other building and athletic facility upgrades.
For more details on what the Wyoming Public Schools district plans to do with the approved millage, see a previous WKTV story here.
