School Bond Issue Ready for Voters

TYLER — In just over two months, voters in the Tyler School District will decide the fate of a, $89.95 million school bond issue. School trustees Tuesday approved putting the issue on the November 2nd ballot.

The proposal calls for rebuilding Dixie and Rice elementary schools and building a new middle school off the Old Jacksonville Highway. The new middle school would be built on a 30 acre tract of land the district owns. If approved by voters, it would open in August of 2012.

At Tuesday�s meeting school officials announced approval of the bond proposal would not affect the district�s tax rate.

Also at Tuesday�s meeting, the school board approved the budget for 2010-2011. The $136,859,437 million is slightly higher than the current budget. The tax rate remains the same at $1.375 per $100 valuation. But not everyone supports the package. The citizen group Grassroots America – We the People is against it, in their words to the board, “because you have not made any real effort to cut spending, and you are balancing this budget with $5 million in federal stimulus funds you have applied for out of the State�s Rainy Day Fund.”