In February, Wichita residents will be voting on a $450 million bond issue proposed by the USD 259 District. The bond aims to rebuild and repurpose several aging school buildings, some of which are nearly 100 years old.

A bond is a type of loan from an investor to a government or company that will pay the investor back over time with interest along the way. Funding for the proposed bond will come from the Wichita community . The district says this bond would not require a property tax increase because it will replace current bonds with a new one.

The bond will include a series of projects modernizing and repurposing existing schools, as well as the construction of a few new facilities. 

“We are also going to build a new pre-K learning center because we’ve found the research shows that the investment you make into early childhood education really pays off in elementary school,” Wichita Board of Education President Stan Reeser said.

Last year, six schools were closed due to the rising costs in maintenance of outdated buildings in addition to changing population demographics. In 1954, when Payne Elementary school opened, it had more than 650 students before facing a drastic decline in enrollment over time. When it was shut down for good, Payne Elementary was the smallest school in the district with 231 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

“Today’s environment requires more of a high impact, more of an interchange of communication between the teacher and the student,” Reeser said. “And we do understand what it takes to raise our student outcomes and we need to start matching our facilities with that desire.”

Many parents were left upset by the proposed changing and consolidation of schools, as well as the district’s failure to fulfill promises from the 2008 bond issue.

BOE President Reeser hopes to minimize tensions through a revised plan for the new bond.

“…that is actually one reason why we are breaking this up into step one, and then we want to be able to show the public, here’s the promises that we made in step one,” Reeser said. “ and we want you to hold us accountable to doing what we say we were hoping to accomplish with this step one.”