Blair Oaks school issues draw heavier turnout

The Blair Oaks School District won two major victories Tuesday driven by turnout that was almost twice the rate for Cole County as a whole.

Voters living in the district boundaries approved a $14 million bond issue and an increase in the operating tax levy Tuesday. About 30 percent of those voters cast ballots on the two Blair Oaks ballot questions, compared to about 15 percent turnout for the county overall.

The bond issue drew about 78 percent approval while the tax levy increase had about 70 percent support.

“We’re extremely excited,” superintendent Jim Jones said. “Hearing our students are excited and our faculty and staff just really excited about the future of our district.”

The $14 million in bonds will provide the funding for Blair Oaks to design, build, equip and furnish a new high school on a 25-acre plot of land adjacent to the current middle school building. The operating levy increase will pay to staff the new school.

“When we purchased the land right adjacent to our campus, we felt like a comprehensive solution for our district would be something that had an impact on not just ninth through 12th grade, but K through 12th,” Jones said.

Once it opens, Jones said the plan is for the new building to house grades 9-12. The current high school building will be house grades 6-8, the current middle school will have grades 3-5 and the current elementary school will host grades K-2 and eventually pre-kindergarten.

Now that the bond has been issued, Jones said the real work begins.

“It’s really going to get serious now,” Jones said. “We’re really going to have to ramp up the seriousness.”

He said the next steps will be to create a more detailed floor plan, bring in a team of engineers and then the district will starting working on bid documents and construction.

Jones said the board of education is hopeful they will be able to break ground by late summer or early fall.