About $260 million of the $265 million total would go toward constructing a new high school at an 89-acre property on the southeast corner of South Alpha Bellbrook Road and Indian Ripple Road. The site is in Beavercreek Twp., just south of the Russ Research Center property, a half-mile west of The Narrows Reserve.
While construction of a new high school would be the headline of the project if voters approve, that move would cause a domino effect of changes across the district.
The current high school would then be renovated into a middle school for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. Ferguson Hall would be used for alternative programming, such as working with the Greene County Career Center. Coy Middle School and Ankeney Middle School would both be converted to elementary schools.
The oldest elementary school, Main Elementary, would be renovated into central offices for the district, and the district’s current offices off of Kemp Road would be redesigned into a centralized preschool.
This proposed high school would put grades 9 through 12 under one roof. Currently, Beavercreek high school freshmen have most of their education at Ferguson Hall.
In addition to the school building itself, the new high school campus would have a 1,200-seat theater, and a roughly 5,500-seat football stadium. Plans for the new high school also include a 1,000-seat soccer stadium, practice fields for sports and marching band, and 1,400 parking spaces.
Several residents who oppose the bond issue said the $265 million price tag for the high school is too expensive and the scope of construction too broad, as they said they are struggling with property tax rates and other economic concerns.
“We don’t need a Taj Mahal,” said Beavercreek resident Ali Golafshan. “They will take their focus on giving money to the building, instead of setting more money to have the best teachers, because that is the basis of education … It’s easy to spend someone else’s money.”
Other residents are in favor of the new levy. A graduate of Beavercreek High School himself, Travis Hancock has three young children, the oldest of whom attends elementary school in the district.
“I think there’s a sense of pride in having good schools and good facilities. I think it draws better people to the community. And obviously the kids and students benefit a ton from more resources,” Hancock said. “As more people move into Beavercreek, they start paying their share of it, so it kind of dilutes and people pay less as it goes on. So I think it’s a good investment.”
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Beavercreek resident Auston Hensley is another “No” vote, for several reasons, he said. The most immediate of these is the region-wide property tax hikes as a result of local property valuations soaring by 40% in some places.
“$265 million is absolutely insane. It’s $500 a year for the average 300k house for the next 37 years. We can’t afford it; not in this economy.”
The economy is a frequent point of discussion, and it’s a mixed bag. On the good side the country has added a healthy number of jobs with unemployment remaining low, Ohio worker wages have grown and caught up with the national median and the stock market is near all-time highs. On the down side, those property tax increases hit hard, at a time when the remnants of the post-COVID inflation surge remain.
Hensley suggested Beavercreek cut administrative costs before coming back to voters for more money. The Ohio Department of Education’s 2023 District Profile Report says Beavercreek spent less on administration per student than 80% of Ohio school districts.
Hensley also pointed toward inadequacies in the state funding model, where Beavercreek, as a comparatively wealthy district, gets less state funding.
“I recognize that is not something that anyone in Greene County can control, but … if the school board and the union and everyone else put a tenth of the energy that they put into browbeating the voters, into browbeating the legislature instead, we would have fixed this by now.”
Beavercreek is considered an Expedited Local Partnership Program (ELPP) district with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. The commission decides which school districts will get state money for facilities work in a given year. Beavercreek, again considered a wealthy district, has not yet seen its number called.
If the bond is passed and the construction is completed, when Beavercreek’s number is drawn, the state will credit the district for a portion of the money spent on the project, currently estimated between $20 million and $25 million.
Beavercreek school officials say they are seeing rapidly increasing enrollment at the elementary and middle school levels. This, and the ongoing housing development in the area, prompted the district to develop this master facilities plan with the community back in the 2018-2019 school year.
Enrollment growth has caused some classrooms to be placed in exterior trailers, or pods, outside the school buildings. Resident David Brandenburg has six grandchildren, four of whom are still in Beavercreek schools.
“We just need more school rooms,” he said. “(The district) rented three pods. Two don’t have bathrooms. They have to be escorted into the school and escorted back out for security.”
Brandenburg added that though he is on a fixed income, he supports the levy because he believes in paying it forward.
“I was skeptical at first but when you listen to everything, we need more room for these younger kids coming into the community,” he said. “Other people helped pay for my kids, it’s the right thing to do to help pay for someone else’s.”
New construction would address anticipated growth over the next 25 to 35 years, school Superintendent Paul Otten said, as housing subdivisions continue to be built in and around Beavercreek.
At that point, school leadership will have to determine whether that money goes towards improving facilities, or it could be used to pay off the bond early, Otten said.
Should the bond issue pass in November, design for the high school would likely start in January, Otten said. Between design and construction, the new high school would likely be completed in the 2029-2030 school year, and students who are now in fourth grade would start as freshmen in the new school.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
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