TULSA, Okla. — Jenks Public Schools is encouraging families to cast their vote next week, as they prepare for their annual school bond election.
While every district handles bond's differently, for Jenks, it is an annual process that the community expects. This year, they are asking for $19 million dollars for a variety of upgrades and projects. This bond will not raise property taxes.
A majority of the funding will be dedicated to the districts ongoing work to improve their Freshman Academy. Director of Communications for the district Rob Loeber said this is a necessity for the district, especially as their enrollment continues to grow.
"Freshman academy is one of those buildings that was originally designed as an elementary school and really needs a face lift and some upgrades," said Loeber. "We've been able to do that with previous bonds that have passed, and add a brand new wing to the freshman academy a couple years ago, and then we added a second new wing, so now this is the third and final phase of that overall face lift for that facility."
Other portions of the bond dollars will go towards a number of projects - classroom and equipment upgrades, retiring old school buses and replacing them with newer vehicles, renovations to other school buildings and construction to their tennis facility.
Heather Persson, a mother in the district, has a freshman in the academy this year. Persson said she's seen the direct impact these projects had on her children as each one invests directly in their education. The constant momentum and improvement across the district is what drew Persson's to Jenks Public Schools in the first place.
"We looked at other school districts, and Jenks, it was just their focus on continuous improvement and excellence in education, athletics, all the different extracurriculars, and definitely I think that’s what jenks is known for as a city and a community and were just really lucky that the community supports that."
Over the years, the Jenks community has seen a number of bills. Loeber said 59 of the last 60 bonds passed through the Jenks Public School district.
"This year were asking for a total of 19 million dollars, and that really impacts and effects every student at every grade level across the district."
However, while this will generate a large portion of the funding for Phase 3, Loeber said there will likely need to be a few more bonds issued to get full funding in place. Construction is not expected to begin on that project until 2025.
Through the Jenks Public Schools Bond Transparency Act of 2017, voters can view an itemized breakdown of where all of the $19 million dollars would go across the district.
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