Voters in Chapman Unified School District 473 in northeast Kansas will go to the polls April 7 to decide on a plan to issue $8.2 million of 20-year general obligation bonds to rebuild three public schools that were damaged or destroyed by a tornado in June 2008.
Proceeds would be used to build a new elementary school and repair the district’s junior high school and high school. The construction projects will cost a total of $75 million, financed with $20.2 million in insurance payments and $46 million from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The 976-student district, which includes portions of Dickinson and Geary counties, claims to have built the first county high school in the world using bonds issued in 1888. The district currently has no outstanding debt.
If the general obligation bonds are approved, the mill levy would increase to 6.8 mills. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $6.52 a month in school property taxes.
