NEW ALBANY — Following suit with the campaign signs across the county, the school board said yes to NAFCS.
At Monday's meeting, the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp.'s board voted to put an $87 million referendum question on November's election ballots. Voters will decide whether to support the district's plan to improve nine of its 15 facilities.
If passed, the district's contribution to the county property tax rate will not decrease after its debt from the improvements at New Albany High School fall off in the next couple of years. But several community members, teachers, and others like E. Richard Pimpleton, spoke in support of the referendum.
“Our parents and grandparents made sacrifices so we're able to stand here today and discuss this, and also make a change in our lives,” Pimpleton said. “It's our turn, right now, at this time to pave a way for the future for the children that go through these learning institutes that we have control of, that we can make a difference [in].”
This project would invest the most at the Prosser Career Education Center — about $27.25 million — and include a new school for Green Valley Elementary at about $25.8 million.
This is the district's second attempt at a referendum on this scale. In 2015, the board put another referendum on the ballot for less money — about $80 million — and failed to get it passed, with about 55 percent of the community voting against it. Brad Snyder, deputy superintendent, said while the district presented a variety of plans in community meetings this time around, the majority of them opted for a slightly larger project that would keep the district's tax impact exactly where it is.
The project also has opposition, just as the last proposal did. PJ Moore, a member of Grassroots Concerned Citizens, Inc., said the group agrees with the number of projects. But he said calling the plan tax neutral is a matter of semantics and still represents a 40 percent tax hike in his view.
"If your mortgage company tacked on another 20 years at the same rate, you wouldn't say that's not a net increase," Moore said. "For our house, even with all the exemptions, that's at least another $4,000 we'll be paying. If you're going to pitch this, pitch it honestly."
The move will also include renovations New Albany high School, Highland Hills Middle School, Floyds Knobs Elementary, Greenville Elementary, Scribner Middle and Hazelwood Middle schools.
Rebecca Gardenour, board president, said with some of the issues in schools — including mold in carpet after rain or cockroaches — she thought it was sad she hadn't heard of them until Monday's meeting. She said perhaps the district should have invested in those issues rather than new football fields with synthetic turf at the high schools.
The board voted unanimously in favor of the four measures to put the referendum on November's ballot. DJ Hines and Jessica Knable, board members, were not present, but Gardenour read statements from each of them expressing their support of the referendum.