CALLAWAY COUNTY -- Callaway County voters will get a chance to decide a multi-million dollar school bond issue on the April 7 ballot.
Proposition Kids asks voters to approve an $8.25 million bond to pay for expansion and repairs at schools in the North Callaway School District.
The bond measure would allow them to move students out of trailers and into better classrooms, according to school officials.
They say the $8 million will be used to update aging sewer and gas systems and to get rid of asbestos.
"There are no frills in this, it is just repairing, maintenance, adding a few additional classrooms and things that are just so badly needed,” said Patsy Austin, president of the North Callaway School Board.
"There are maintenance issues,” said Dr. Sandy Haskins, assistant superintendent of North Callaway schools. “We still have asbestos flooring in all the buildings, we have old sewer systems, old gas systems, old furnaces and we're not air conditioned in the classrooms."
The money for those improvements would come from tax increases which could prove a tough sell to taxpayers in this rocky economic climate.
A Callaway County homeowner with a $100,000 house would pay about $75 more a year on their tax bill.
School officials say if the bond doesn't pass, there is no other plan.
"Without the bond issue we will repair what we can,” said Austin. “But it will not be repaired the best way - it will be another, 'let's get by', type thing.”
Similar measures have failed twice in the past. Officials hope the third time on the ballot is the charm.
The measure would affect 1300 students in the Callaway district.
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