JENKS, Okla. — A nearly $20 million school bond is up for a vote in Jenks.
With Jenks proposing bonds yearly some voters are asking how that money has been spent over the years. To advocate for the voter 2 News went to the district.
"We have about 2.5 million sqft in Jenks," said Jeffrey Beyer the chief operations officer for the district.
He said it’s why they propose multimillion-dollar bonds annually.
"It’s important to know that these bond items are identified with a community that represents parents staff members, administrators, and other community members," Beyers said.
But some people in Jenks asked why the district needs $20 million in bonds every year.
Like this person who commented on a post in a public Jenks Facebook group asking for accountability.
2 News asking Beyers how the people of Jenks can be assured the funds go where they're supposed to.
"You know, it's a really important question. It's very important for schools to be transparent. We're accountable to our community on our website you can find our bond page and look back at the bond transparency information that we published," said Beyer.
When digging deeper into the document's recent bond proposals from 2020 to 2024 nearly $114 million is still unspent.
Beyers said it’s because some of the funding is budgeted for projects not yet fully funded.
"Some projects like the freshman academy take us several years to build up enough funding to start construction," Beyer said.
He said this is because of their annual bond schedule that works for Jenks. He said other districts propose bonds on a half-decade or decade schedule. This allows them to do large bond funding projects in larger proportions.
An example of Jenks' bonds is with their freshman academy—which has been on numerous proposals.
This latest bond up for vote will get the final funding to start and complete construction.
"Build a new two-story 20-classroom academic building for our classroom," said Beyer.
When bonds are proposed the district is required to allocate funds in the area proposed.
"It has to be 85% or the completion of the project that's per state law," said Beyer.
Beyers said this new bond will not increase taxes.
Voters will be able to cast their ballot on February 11th.
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