CHICAGO - Ohio's Plain Local School District is out of luck again: Voters in Stark County Tuesday refused the district's request for $59.4 million of bond authority for the second time in five months.
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The Plain Local School District had the second largest school bond request on Ohio's Super Tuesday ballot, which included 42 school bond issues, totaling $742.5 million.
According to David Conley of Seasongood & Mayer, which underwrites Ohio school debt, voters approved 44.7% of the bond issues on the ballot. "The number approved is higher than we've seen over the last four years," he said.
Plain Local School District's issue had been defeated last November by more than 1,000 votes. A spokeswoman for the district said it has not yet decided whether to try again next November.
Emerging a winner Tuesday was Mason City School District in Warren County, where voters approved a $71.9 million issue to pay for school facilities improvements -- the biggest request on the ballot.
Other big winners included the New Albany-Plain Local School District in Franklin County, where voters approved $29.7 million of bonds. The proceeds will be used to build a middle school, buy land, and build a field-house cafeteria.
Streetsboro City School District in Portage County won approval for $15.55 million of bonds, and Jackson Local School District in Stark County won approval for $25 million of bonds.
Among the losers was Ravenna City School District, which had asked for $34 million of bonds for facilities improvements, according to district treasurer Billie Vasbinder.
Election results on the remainder of 42 districts were not yet available from the Ohio Secretary of State's office. Last November, Ohio saw 87 school districts place bond referendums on the ballot, for a total of $839 million. Most of the winning districts had a guarantee of state matching funds if the voters passed the issue.
Because of the promise of matching funds, the number of school districts going to voters for help is expected to increase in coming years if Gov. Bob Taft persuade the General Assembly to approve his $23 billion, 12-year plan to renew and rebuild Ohio's aging educational infrastructure. The plan asks the state to provide $10 billion of state money to primary and secondary schools, while the districts would come up with the rest.
