Voters in Athena-Weston did not pass the Athena-Weston School District general obligation bond on the November ballot. The vote was 463 YES (43.7%) votes and 597 (56.3%) NO votes.
School Board Chair Tim Seymour said the school board and district are disappointed in the outcome. “Many people worked hard on bond planning, community outreach, and communicating to our community how the bond and proposed projects would improve facilities and learning opportunities for the students of our district. We continue to be committed to student success and will be assessing how we address our facilities going forward,” Seymour said.
Seymour, along with Superintendent Ann Vescio, emphasized that the bond was a multi-year effort. They would like to thank the Community Bond Advisory Committee (CBAC), school board members, district administrators, members of the district facility and business departments, teachers, staff, Citizens for AW Schools, Wenaha Group and IMESD Communications for all their work. The district also thanks all the community organizations, city and local entities who hosted bond presentations.
“All of us at the district are very grateful for the collaborative effort and teamwork it has taken to evaluate facilities, develop projects and inform our community about this bond. We appreciate everyone who worked on it,” Vescio said.
If passed by voters, the bond would have funded these projects:
District re-configuration with Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 5 at the Weston campus and Grades 6-8 and 9-12 at the Athena campuses.
Athena Campuses
Career Technical Education building for Grades 6-12
Two science rooms, art room, wood shop, metal shop, and an agriculture/multipurpose classroom
AES minor improvements to support Grades 6 - 8
Main Gym with locker rooms, fitness room, concessions
Remodel WMHS Classrooms and create student commons
Weston Campus
ADA improvements
Drop-off and pick-up flow improvements
WMS Lower Gym classroom remodel for Pre-Kindergarten WMS minor improvements to support Grades K - 5
New gravel parking lot
The bond would have raised $15.22 million in property tax revenue, and the district would have received $10.21 million from the Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching (OSCIM) program, for a total of $25.43 million for projects. Since the bond did not pass, grant funds will not be received from the state, proposed projects will not be completed, and tax rates will not increase.
The school board and district will discuss next steps in the bond process at a later date.