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.”