Sunman-Dearborn School Board Set To Vote On $48M In Building Improvements

A public hearing to pass resolutions for the school building improvements happens Thursday.

File photo

(St. Leon, Ind.) - A multi-million dollar vote will be held Thursday evening by the Sunman-Dearborn Community Schools Board of Trustees.

The board will vote on a series of resolutions that could allow the school corporation to move forward with up to $48 million worth of building improvements across its five buildings. Thursday’s school board special session starts at 7:00 p.m. at the East Central High School library.

The special session will include an overview of the project, its educational need and financial impacts. There is also an opportunity for public comment before the board votes on three resolutions permitting the project to move ahead.

“The various resolutions are the official votes to begin the project,” says S-DCSC Superintendent Andrew Jackson.

This is not the first meeting the school corporation has held regarding this proposed project. Earlier this month, district administrators held three presentations to familiarize the public with the plan to fund the building maintenance and improvements.

Priority and recommended building maintenance and improvements for East Central High School, Sunman-Dearborn Middle-School, Bright Elementary, North Dearborn Elementary and Sunman Elementary were identified in a study conducted during the 2018-2019 school year by Lancer + Beebe architects. The identified items included new roofs for the schools, classroom renovations, mechanical systems replacements or repairs, LED lighting, ADA accessibility, and a replacement of the pool at ECHS.

Jackson says with old bonds being paid off, the spending won’t raise property taxes in the school district from their current levels.

Information on the proposed improvements and the financial implications is being published on the school corporation website at www.sunmandearborn.k12.in.us/information/2019-feasibility-study. We also wrote about the proposed improvements last month in this article.

If the school board approves the resolutions Thursday, district taxpayers would still have the opportunity to halt the project funding. Citizens opposed could gather petitions to get the bonding put to a referendum among voters in the school district.

According to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, the required number of signatures needed to do that is the lesser of 500 district voters or property owners or five percent of voters residing in the district. The signatures would have to be turned into the county clerk's office within 30 days of the preliminary determination of the bond being published.

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