Voters pass Jackson school bond issue

Jackson High School is getting a new building.

With 21 of 21 precincts reporting, Proposition J passed with 3,210 votes of 4,426 total in Tuesday's municipal election.

Proposition J, a $22 million bond issue, allows the school district to maintain a $0.3708 debt-service levy on personal property taxes rather than raise taxes directly. Proposition J sought to address several issues with the school district's buildings, among them demolition and replacement of Jackson High School's "Old A" building.

Jackson School District superintendent John Link said he's very happy at the result.

"We're really excited for our kids and teachers," Link said. "This was a very good voice of our community, that they liked our plan, like what we're doing, and believe in the future of the school system for our kiddos."

Link said he's proud to be part of the team that set out a year-and-a-half ago to create a plan and work together on it.

"Tonight proved Jackson as a city and school district are a pretty good team when it comes to moving forward for our kids," Link said.

The next step, he said, will be to hire a construction management team. They'll need to be interviewed, Link said, and the design package will be finalized.

"We want to move forward quickly," Link said.

The problem with overcrowding needs to be addressed, Link added. "We want relief of that hopefully by the 2018-2019 academic year," he said, adding the construction might not be complete by then, but enough will be ready that students and teachers can begin to move in.

"We want to continue to grow and support the growth we have," Link said.

"I'm just really proud of the teachers, community, team of board and staff members who got out and worked hard to share our story."

Link added he wants to move forward with honesty and transparency, and hopes those characteristics and qualities pay off.

"On behalf of the school and community, I think this says a lot for Jackson as a whole," Link said. "I'm very proud."

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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