Aurora bond issue would build new high school, update district buildings

By Addison Foreman/Kent State NewsLab

A bond issue in this year’s election would assist Aurora City Schools in building a new high school and updating other district buildings.

Issue 32 on the Portage County ballot would bring in approximately $136 million over 37 years to go toward building a new high school and updating four other school buildings. It will also go toward adding roofs, roads, athletic fields, parking spaces and more.

“It’s an encompassing bond issue that will allow us to improve our aging infrastructure and increase our capacity,” school district superintendent Mike Roberto said.

Three years ago, the school district started looking into the need for a new high school, Roberto said.

“We’ve got strong academics, we have excellent opportunities in the arts and our athletic programs provide some fun and great opportunities for our kids,” Roberto said. “But none of those things matched our infrastructure.”

The Citizens Committee for Quality Schools is advocating for the bond issue. Co-chairs of the organization, Rachel Reight and Elissa Katz, joined the committee after last year’s 2023 election, which had an operational levy for Aurora schools on the ballot. Operational funds impact the day-to-day upkeep of the school, like keeping lights on and paying teacher salaries. 

The 2023 levy was approved, but community members felt like they got information on the issue at the last minute, Katz said.

“We both have kiddos that attend the school, but we’re also just passionate about public schools, and so we got together to try to help the school district pass the bond issue,” Reight said.

The committee has been sending mailers, handing out flyers and doing informational sessions with the community to inform people. They have also been sending people to their website and the school district’s website to learn more information, aiming to target voters who haven’t yet made up their minds about the levy.

Some community members have had concerns about how the bond issue could impact property taxes. Facebook users have commented on posts on a page maintained by the Citizens Committee for Quality Schools, expressing that increased taxes due to the bond issue will be in addition to higher taxes due to the 2024 property reappraisal. 

“This is in additions (sic) to the higher taxes expected due to the reappraisal, which will be significant. I support our schools and [their] value to our community, but it’s just a lot!” one Facebook commenter wrote. 

“I’m looking at a $662/yr increase….coupled with the $440 increase in January, due to the passage of the levy in November. And we know there will be more operating levies in the future,” another wrote. “I’m concerned that this project is over the top.”

After reaching out to several users for comment, none agreed to an interview.

Appraised values have risen significantly over the last few years, 3.5% in the past year in Aurora, meaning homeowners’ taxes are already going up. The bond issue would cost homeowners an additional $265 per year per $100,000 in appraised value. 

The average home in Aurora is valued at $415,332, meaning the average homeowner could see an increase of approximately $1,100 a year.

However, superintendent Roberto said the bond issue will be based on property values from 2023, not 2024.

“The bond issue would not be based on the new property values, but would actually be based on the current property value,” Roberto said. “Some folks are confused as to how much they would go up, because they were looking at the new potential property values that kick in next year.”

Building a school now would save the school district money in the long run, according to Roberto. He said that in the 1990s, Aurora failed to pass a bond issue. In 1993, it would have cost $16 million to build a new high school. Over the next 10 years, three expansions made to the high school to accommodate a growing student body cost $21 million, Roberto said.

There are currently five buildings in the school district: Miller Elementary, Craddock Elementary, Leighton Elementary School, Harmon Middle School and Aurora High School. If the issue passes, a new high school would be built and Craddock Elementary would be torn down. 

Then, the old high school would take on grades 6-8, Harmon would take grades 3-5, and Leighton would take preschool through second grade. Miller would become a kindergarten-only school.

Craddock Elementary is more than 100 years old, the oldest building in the school district. Reight attended this school more than 20 years ago and her second-grader attends Craddock now. 

The school was built without air conditioning and without current technology, which affects the Wi-Fi signal.

“I am in that building often, and I can tell you that we lovingly refer to some things that go on in the building as ‘water features,’ but it’s actually just a garbage can that’s collecting water from the leaking roof,” Reight said.

Capacity issues are also present at Craddock. The school recently cut the library in half to add another classroom so they wouldn’t have to add another trailer, said Reight. Trailers have been added to Miller and Leighton schools already due to the growing student body. 

One of Reight’s children goes to Leighton, the district’s newest school, and she said it is already at capacity. Her son is in a classroom that is a converted storage closet due to lack of space.

“They did a nice job of making it into a classroom, but one, they lose that storage for the teachers’ supplies, and secondly, it’s a classroom, so they are using every little bit of space they have to make things work,” Reight said.

If the bond issue passes, the school district would begin working with students, staff, parents and the community for the next year to get into the details of construction and the design of the new high school. If all goes as planned, students would be moved into the new high school in Fall 2028. 

The middle school students will then move into the old high school for work to be done on the middle school, and then one year later, everything should be completed and the elementary schools can also make their move, according to the Aurora City Schools Facility Master Plan. 

Katz’s children are both in middle school, so if the bond passes, they will likely get two or three years out of the new high school. But she sees this as something that will not only affect her kids, but also kids that go to these schools generations and decades from now.

“I don’t know that they could ever have a perfect plan, but it is a great plan, and it really addresses all the issues they are having now and would have in the next years to come,” she said.

This story was originally published by the Kent State NewsLab, a collaborative news outlet publishing journalism by Kent State students.