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Neosho R-5 School District patrons turned down a $16 million bond issue posed by the school district during Tuesday’s election.
The final vote was 5,402 votes against, and 4,097 votes in favor. The district needed 57.14 percent for the issue to pass, and only garnered 43.13 percent.
“We were very hopeful tonight because we know that there is big support from our community,” said Dr. Richard Page, superintendent of Neosho R-5 Schools. “And we still believe that it is there.”
After hearing the news, Page added, “We are definitely disappointed. We were so hoping we had it (with the) positive presentations, positive information, feedback from our community (that it would pass). Obviously, what we did not hear was the economy situation…. and this was the part that I would have liked to had out here a little bit more, that Newton County sales tax was up 4 percent from last year, McDonald County is up 5 percent from last year, over 2,000 new jobs in the call center in Joplin…we also have new growth coming into Neosho School District, Neosho schools, and so we really don’t see what we are hearing.
“And so it has got to be the fear of the economy more than anything else.”
Stated as Phase 2, the proposed bond issue would have funded the construction of a new fifth and sixth grade facility as well as renovations to the high school.
“We have 1,000 students located in our middle school,” noted Page. “Our middle school houses grades 5-7. What we were wanting to do is construct a 5th and 6th grade center, locate those students to a new building, and relocate the eighth grade out of the high school. We are one of the few schools in Missouri that has eighth grade in high school. Move the 8th grade to the middle school, making it a seventh and eighth grade center. And by doing so, lower the population from 1,000 to 635 students and have capacity for growth for several years to come. We have seen a growth in the district about 50 per year for the last 12 years. So we have seen a 603 growth over the last 12 years. We don’t expect that to change. We are going to see growth… so those problems are not going away for us. We are still going to have these issues for several years or until we get this addressed for our community.”
The next time that the school district could appeal to the patrons is April 2009. To do that, the board would have to present the ballot information by Jan. 23 to the Newton County Clerk’s office.
“I am sure that (the board) will go back to the drawing board, probably look at their plans, see what we need to do, get some feedback from our voters,” Page said.
Neosho R-5 School District patrons turned down a $16 million bond issue posed by the school district during Tuesday’s election.
The final vote was 5,402 votes against, and 4,097 votes in favor. The district needed 57.14 percent for the issue to pass, and only garnered 43.13 percent.
“We were very hopeful tonight because we know that there is big support from our community,” said Dr. Richard Page, superintendent of Neosho R-5 Schools. “And we still believe that it is there.”
After hearing the news, Page added, “We are definitely disappointed. We were so hoping we had it (with the) positive presentations, positive information, feedback from our community (that it would pass). Obviously, what we did not hear was the economy situation…. and this was the part that I would have liked to had out here a little bit more, that Newton County sales tax was up 4 percent from last year, McDonald County is up 5 percent from last year, over 2,000 new jobs in the call center in Joplin…we also have new growth coming into Neosho School District, Neosho schools, and so we really don’t see what we are hearing.
“And so it has got to be the fear of the economy more than anything else.”
Stated as Phase 2, the proposed bond issue would have funded the construction of a new fifth and sixth grade facility as well as renovations to the high school.
“We have 1,000 students located in our middle school,” noted Page. “Our middle school houses grades 5-7. What we were wanting to do is construct a 5th and 6th grade center, locate those students to a new building, and relocate the eighth grade out of the high school. We are one of the few schools in Missouri that has eighth grade in high school. Move the 8th grade to the middle school, making it a seventh and eighth grade center. And by doing so, lower the population from 1,000 to 635 students and have capacity for growth for several years to come. We have seen a growth in the district about 50 per year for the last 12 years. So we have seen a 603 growth over the last 12 years. We don’t expect that to change. We are going to see growth… so those problems are not going away for us. We are still going to have these issues for several years or until we get this addressed for our community.”
The next time that the school district could appeal to the patrons is April 2009. To do that, the board would have to present the ballot information by Jan. 23 to the Newton County Clerk’s office.
“I am sure that (the board) will go back to the drawing board, probably look at their plans, see what we need to do, get some feedback from our voters,” Page said.
