The Jefferson County (Colo.) school board is reviewing a proposed facilities master plan that calls for hundreds of millions of dollars in building upgrades, a move of sixth-graders to middle schools, and closing or consolidating several elementary schools.
The Denver Post reports that the Jeffco board is considering whether to adopt the facilities plan as a prelude to deciding whether to ask voters in November to approve a bond issue of between $420 million and $600 million. Such a request would be the school district's largest bond request ever. (More on Jeffco's facilities plan.)
The bond funds would provide money for the first phase of what is estimated to be $800 million in needed improvements. Nearly all of the school system's 154 campuses would receive some type of renovation.
The Jefferson County district says it needs a sizable facilities program because it has fallen significantly behind other Denver-area districts in terms of bond spending per student. The average age of a school facility in the district is 45 years, officials say.
The district, Colorado's second largest, approved a $99 million bond request in 2012 and a $323.8 million proposal in 2004. Moving sixth-graders to middle schools would ease some of the crowding in elementary schools.
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