Madison going to ballot for new school

By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

May 06, 2008 07:08 pm

— MADISON TOWNSHIP —The Madison Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday morning to bring a 4.9-mill bond issue and .5-mill maintenance levy to the August ballot in hopes of securing funds for a campus-style school building.
“We have moved forward with the ballot issue in hopes of bringing some new information to the voters,” Madison Superintendent Jim Herrholtz said. “This is the same proposal as last year.”
The bond issue is for the Madison Learning Center, a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade building to be constructed on Madison High School property, located on Middle Ridge Road. The high school would undergo extensive expansion and renovation, should the bond issue and levy pass.
Passage of the bond issue will raise $33.6 million over 28 years to fund the $77 million construction project. The Ohio School Facilities Commission will pay $46 million or 60 percent of the project, Herrholtz said.
The levy half-mill levy is required by the OSFC before it will release millions in state funds to the school district. The levy proceeds can be used only for the maintenance of the new schools and cannot be used to pay employees’ salaries, benefits or expenses.
If passed, the bond issue and the levy together will cost a homeowner $162.62 per $100,000 in property valuation.
Voters said no to the bond issue on November, squelching the tax at the ballot 3,466 to 2,183 against the levy, Lake County Board of Elections results confirm.
Herrholtz said this year is different.
“We conducted an extensive community survey,” Herrholtz said. “Some things in the survey really stood out. People said they would vote for the bond issue if the new building would save money and if 60 percent of the money came from the state.”
Herrholtz said he feels the message of the benefit of the new building was lost in the last election.
“People don’t think our schools are in need, which surprised me. Some of our buildings are 80 years old, all are very old structures. We maintain the outside of the buildings so the look nice, but people don’t see the real problems inside,” he said.
The old buildings, which the district will demolish if the new school is built, just don’t fit the needs of today’s students, Herrholtz said.
“The were built for a different time, a different population. It is undeniable that the students need a new school,” he said.