From the Fort Wayne News Sentinel:
On May 8, constituents of two area school districts will decide the fate of school improvement projects. Referendums will appear on the ballots of voters in Fort Wayne Community Schools and East Allen County Schools. Both referendums have been a long time coming: FWCS, with its failed building project several years ago, hasn't had any major upgrades since and EACS redesign project when it was approved in late 2010 required closing, consolidation and building rehab.
FWCS board member John Pierce said this time around, the referendum process feels much different.
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Pierce, the rest of the board and the district are hoping for a different result this year than in 2007, the last time the district placed a referendum question on the ballot.
When that $500 million project was voted down, the district took lessons learned and have applied them to the upcoming $119 million referendum.
The $119 million will pay for improvements at 36 schools including roof section replacements, chiller additions, HVAC upgrades and classroom improvements.
The project focuses on 10 school buildings that will receive the most major renovations: Snider High School, Memorial Park and Jefferson middle schools, and Weisser Park, Haley, Croninger, Harris, Bloomingdale and Irwin elementary schools.
The total also includes some roof catch-ups at 28 buildings - including five of the 10 mentioned above - window and masonry work at eight buildings and the addition of chillers at six buildings.
While the project begins to address the district's needs, all schools still won't be fully air conditioned, and work will still be needed at other buildings in the coming years.
Additional phases will be voted on in later years, with new debt adding after old debt falls off keeping the tax rate level. This first phase will increase a homeowner's tax bill about $27 for a home with an assessed value of about $90,000.
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East Allen County Schools is going back to constituents for a second time in two years, hoping for a tax increase to support the district.
The $8 million referendum for operating expenses in 2010 was defeated by a staggering majority.
On May 8, EACS voters will say yes or no to an almost $89 million project which includes a renovated New Haven Intermediate School at the current site of Park Hill Learning Center, additions at New Haven High School to accommodate seventh- and eighth-graders and renovations at the former Harding High School to create East Allen University.
The project by itself is expected to raise the taxes of a homeowner with an assessed value of $100,000 by $67 per year.
But Woodlan-area voters have approved a $10.8 million project for renovations at the Woodlan K-12 campus. A final count of signatures hasn't been released in the remonstrance petition drive for the $11.9 million building project in the Heritage area, but preliminary numbers showed strong support for the project.
If all three projects are approved, it would raise the taxes on a $100,000 home by about $83 a year.
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http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120425/NEWS/120429739/0/SEARCH
