Video: Lowndes Co. Schools Approach Second Bond Issue

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LOWNDES COUNTY, MISS. (WCBI) –  It did not pass the first time but now Lowndes County School District officials are even more determined to have a second bond referendum passed by voters.

In August, the $47 million dollar bond issue referendum failed. Now, school leaders are revamping their plans and improving some areas, ensuring the students reap the full benefits of the improvement plan.

The Lowndes County School Board is making a second run at passing a bond issue to pay for construction projects across the district.

District leaders have not set the final dollar figure they are seeking but say it will cover many of the same projects included in the August vote.

Among those are replacing the current New Hope High School building, building a career technical center along with athletic and school upgrades at all three campuses.

“We’ll be having committee meetings with our bonding attorney and looking at what our needs assessment was and trying to tweak the last resolution that we had to see if there’s any areas that we can, so that we can go forward with something that we hope we’ll have a little more success with this time,” said Lowndes County Superintendent Lynn Wright.

Officials say residents will not see a tax increase if the bond passes. Instead, they might see just the opposite.

” In talking with our tax collector and talking with the county supervisors, if anything, we may even see a tax cut and still be able to do this, ” said Wright.

In august, only 1,800 of the 18,000 people eligible actually voted.

School leaders blame  this low voter turn out for the August defeat

“We were so surprised and shocked that we didn’t have a bigger turn out then what was possible because if just the parents would have turned out, it should have been about 10,000 voters out there but so many people said they just assumed it would pass,” said Wright.

Wright says, overall, providing students with the highest level of education is most important.

“It’s so critical that we provide these needs for our students. We’re real pleased with what’s going on in our school district. We appreciate the board’s support at the community support,” said Wright.

School officials have a 45 day waiting period after passing the resolution. They plan to begin meeting as soon as possible about the future plans.