Xenia voters don’t support plan to build new school

Xenia voters on Tuesday rejected a 3.9-mill bond levy that would have paid the local share to replace the 1962 Warner Middle School and 1976 Xenia High School with a single new building.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, voters rejected the measure by a 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent, according to unofficial results from the Greene County Board of Elections.

“I’m sad tonight, but we’ll be there tomorrow morning in the classroom educating kids and doing our best,” said superintendent Denny Morrison.

RESULTS: Latest updated vote totals

The total cost of the project was listed in state documents as $62 million, with the state covering 46 percent. The levy would have helped pay for a single school building to be constructed at Ohio 42 and Ledbetter Road, and would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home $136.50 per year.

To take advantage of the state money, the district will need voters to approve its share of the project cost within the next 13 months, Morrison said. That means Xenia schools will have until August 2017 and their next chance to be on the ballot will be in May.

”We need to put a plan together and go back to the board of education for their approval, and hopefully move forward,” Morrison said.

The district’s loss Tuesday night is not unfamiliar. Years ago it took three attempts to pass a similar ballot measure for Xenia’s five elementary schools.

Morrison pointed to the schools and increased enrollment as proof that the school district has a lot going for it and that there is still promise the levy could pass at a later date.

“So we have a lot of momentum and good things happening,” Morrison said. “What better way to convince young couples to come to a community than to say your children are going to get to go to brand-new schools with state-of-the-art technology from kindergarten through 12th grade?”

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