VOTE
School Bond Issue Jan. 9, 2024
Bristow Public Schools administrators want the community to be aware of next week’s bond issue in hopes the community will vote “yes” in support of the school system and the students it serves.
BPS’ Director of Instruction Krista Burden provided a brochure naming the proposed bond’s amount of $15,475,000 to be used for the following stated purposes: to construct educational classrooms, a shop, and a greenhouse in the agriculture center; a safe room for the middle school; a safe room and indoor play area for Collins Elementary; a high school cheer facility; a service road connecting the sixth grade wing of the middle school to the ag center and high school parking lot; to install a new HVAC system for LeForce Gym at Edison Elementary; and to remodel the existing Joe Stevens Ag Building, adding a STEM lab for future aerospace technology classes. The brochure states there is no projected tax increase associated with the upcoming bond issue. Burden cited existing millage rates for the projection of no tax increase.
When asked about the millage and why the need exists for the proposed bond, Burden stated, “We’ve got to have a continuous process to keep our facilities updated the best that we can for our kiddos. A lot of our facilities are old, but because of the upkeep and continuous renovations and everything else, we have great facilities. There’s a process that goes into determining what’s gonna [sic] be on a bond issue and basically, we take input from all of our people in all of the programs and then prioritize that. We have a facilities committee that is made up of community members, and they come in and discuss those projects as well. So, there’s a lot of work that goes into a lot of collaboration into determining what projects are gonna be on a bond issue.”
Specifically highlighting the importance of the safe rooms, she continued, saying “The safe rooms are gonna be installed at Collins and the Ag Center, which will house the middle school and all of Collins, so that makes all of our sites have access to a safe space for inclement weather, which is a huge safety concern.”
Be sure to visit https://www.bristow.k12.ok.u s/page/documents/ to find document links regarding general information on the tax millage rate, annual estimates of need, and annual audits; however, the most recent schoolyear for which an “Estimate of Need” document is available goes back to 20212022.
For additional information regarding the upcoming bond issue, enter URL https://www.bristow.k12.ok.u s/page/bond/ and click either or both of two links on the page, each containing further information pertinent to the bond issue. Click the “2024 Bond Transparency” link on left side of page to open a document titled “INFORMATION REQUIRED BY THE BOND TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2017”. The document contains information regarding outstanding bonds and projects. Click the purple box labelled “Bond 2024 Resolution” found on the lower half of the page to open the “Resolution Authorizing Election (‘First Resolution’)” document for more information regarding items specific to the proposed bond.
Go vote and make your voices heard on Tuesday, January 9, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.