Broken Arrow to vote on $52-million bond package Tuesday

Broken Arrow Public Schools’ last bond election was in 2015, when voters approved a 12-year, $370 million package. Not all of the funds from that bond have been released yet for projects, but with valuations increasing within Broken Arrow Public Schools’ attendance area, district officials have previously said there is enough financial room to send a proposal to voters that would not increase taxes if approved.

“This is mainly focused on a lot of maintenance issues, technology, safety and security efficiency items that are just needed,” Superintendent Chuck Perry said. “It’s like maintaining your car. You can buy a $150,000 vehicle, but you still have to change the oil and rotate the tires. And I feel like this bond issue is a lot of those basic needs that for a school district our size as it grows, we’ve got to address and we’ve got to take care of. This sets us up for the future to do larger projects and construction projects.”

Proposition No. 1 would provide $48 million for 13 new roofs, 181 new heating and air conditioning units at sites around the district, the addition of practice and storage areas for the Fine Arts Department at Broken Arrow High School, replacement of computers and tablets, WiFi upgrades, the addition of a transportation terminal in the district’s southern end and security upgrades around the district.

Along with body cameras and a dispatch center for the district’s security department and better lighting for parking lots, among the security improvements included in Proposition No. 1 are two additional secure vestibules and a perimeter fence for Broken Arrow High School.

“When it (BAHS) was built in 1982, it was specifically built to resemble a college campus with multiple buildings,” Principal Crystal Barber said. “We are in a different time, though. That perimeter fencing … would allow us to better secure our classroom buildings so that people who are not staff or students would not be able to access the buildings.”

Proposition No. 2 would provide $4 million for new school buses.

The other two parts of the bond package do not require any new money and instead are requests to change how the district uses some of the as yet unreleased funds from its 2015 bond package.

Unless completed under budget or with an assist from private donations, state law requires school districts to spend at least 85% of proceeds on projects and items specifically listed in a bond proposal. That remaining 15%, if not used for the items specifically listed in the bond proposal, must go toward projects similar to the ones approved by voters.

Broken Arrow’s 2015 bond package included $30 million to build a 17th elementary school. If passed, Proposition No. 3 would allow Broken Arrow Public Schools instead to use those funds to build classroom additions at up to five existing elementary schools that were designed to allow for future expansion.

BAPS’ newest elementary school, Rosewood, is among the sites that could potentially have an addition built if Proposition No. 3 passes.

Built as part of that 2015 bond package, Rosewood opened in August 2020 and was originally designed to accommodate about 600 students across 28 classrooms. However, the school has already had to have its boundaries redrawn to address overcrowding and additional anticipated growth due to housing construction within its attendance area.

Even with the redistricting, Rosewood Principal Nate Hutchings said his school has 588 students enrolled this year, with particularly large student counts in first, second and fourth grades.

“I have a teacher in every room in my building, so as enrollment increases, my class sizes increase because I do not have the building capacity to hire another teacher and give them a classroom,” he said.

Other elementary schools that could potentially have a new wing added under the proposal include Aspen Creek, Creekwood, Highland Park and Timber Ridge.

If Proposition No. 3 does not pass, Perry said the district will build the 17th elementary school that was included in the 2015 bond proposal. However, due to rising construction costs, that new school would be able to accommodate only 300 to 400 students.

Proposition No. 4 would allow the district potentially to build its planned aquatic center at Elam Park through a partnership with the city rather than at the Kirkland Activities Complex as stipulated in the ballot language for the 2015 bond package.

“It will not change the money allocated to build it at all,” Perry said. “It will not change the time frame when we are scheduled to build that. All it will do is just give us flexibility to potentially move it to another site.”

Similar to Proposition No. 3, if Proposition No. 4 does not pass, then the aquatic center will be built at the Kirkland Activities Complex as initially approved by voters in 2015.

Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Under state law, school bond propositions must receive at least 60% approval in order to pass.

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