Randolph School Board is considering bond election

RANDOLPH – A $9.75-million school renovation bond issue is being proposed to patrons of the Randolph Public Schools district.

After a town hall meeting last week, about 50 in attendance toured the school’s ag building as well as Randolph Elementary and continued to discuss improvements that will most likely be proposed.

Although no one publicly commented during the town hall, attendees asked questions and offered suggestions through the tours. Board members Sandy Owens and Lisa Linville were absent.

The school board will meet for its regular meeting Monday, Aug. 12 and vote whether or not to proceed with the bond issue. Sept. 3 is the deadline to put the special issue on the ballot .

The road to a bond issue election started back in October 2020 when the board first started looking at replacing the vocational ag building and levying funds to pay for the upgrade. COVID-19 and skyrocketing building costs forced the board to put its building plan on hold. Recent changes in legislation limit the amount boards can levy into special building funds.

The board then started studying other options to move forward with the new ag building as well as other identified needs in both the high school and elementary buildings, narrowing a 40-plus item master list with the help of a steering committee and considering different options to pay for improvements.

“This has been going on for some time and we’ve been going hard on this since February,” said Superintendent Daryl Schrunk. “A lot of time and a lot of work has been put into this.”

The board’s most recent discussions prioritized which projects to include in a possible bond issue, which projects to complete using its special building fund and which to include in a facility improvement plan to tackle in later years.