Voters in the West Fork School District will vote on a proposed $16,865,000 bond referendum during the November 5th election.
Last year, voters in the district rejected a bond issue with 59.68% of voters approving the measure. School bond referendums need at least 60 percent approval in order to pass.
West Fork superintendent, Mike Kruger, tells RadioOnTheGo News that this year’s bond will be very similar to the one put out to voters in 2023.
“Based on feedback we received after last year’s election, we did some surveys and different things within our community. We assembled a task force to kind of look at that information, that feedback, and it was decided that we were going to continue with the same type of scope for the project and same language, everything. Because we do feel like that work that we had on last year’s bond, it’s what we need to do. There wasn’t a lot of stuff that wasn’t essential when we’re talking about creating the best learning environments for kids.”
Kruger feels optimistic about the bond passing despite this year being a presidential election year.
“I’m excited. At the end of last year, I had a lot of people within the community said, you know, I didn’t even vote if I known it was going to be close. We just assumed it was going to pass. So, you know, I think since this is a general election and, you know, it’s going to be quite a race and I think there is going to be great turnout for the bond election. You know, we’re anticipating good numbers and we’re doing everything we can to get a good grassroots effort out there trying to make sure anybody that lives in the West Fork district is aware of the project, first of all, what we’re trying to do, and has the correct information. That’s going to be the key to making this a successful election for us.”
If approved, funds would be used to remodel and improve the HVAC and electrical systems at the Rockwell elementary building and the Sheffield middle school/high school building, replace roof sections at both facilities and add a secure entrance at the Sheffield facility.
