Bethel bond supporters gear up for Election Day

The Bethel School District has had a long list of improvements they're hoping to make for years now, and that wish list might just be granted if voters approve a $99.3 million bond next week.

The election.

Bethel schools could get a makeover after next week's election -- if voters approve a 99 million dollar bond.

Kezi 9 news reporter emma withrow spoke to school district officials, supporters of the bond, and voters about what it could mean for students.

If approved on tuesday the district would get just under 100 million dollars in bond money... plus another $6 million in grants from the state... pat mcgillivray, a spokesman for the district, said alot of planning went into the ballot measure.

Pat: we brought together the long range facilities planning committee to take a real deep look at our facilities, what our needs were, what we could wait to put off to fix.

Number one on the projects wish list would be a replacement of cascade middle school, which has been around since 1955.

Pat: it has serious problems with the the electrical with the plumbing with the mechanical with the heating and air conditioning.

And it's a wiser use of dollars to replace the building.

But the question on the minds of many is how much is this going to cost the average tax payer in the district?

Emma bridge: if voters approve the bond, homeowners would not see an increase to their current taxes.... but if voters don't approve the bond that bill would decrease the tax rate by 44%, which begs the question what is is more important to the average voter in this district?

Lower taxes or better resources for youth in the area.

And according to one voter i spoke with resources for youth are more important.

Katherine gerlach: to those who are opposing it, i would say that it's really investing in our future for the people, the children that are going to these schools.

It's it's an easy yes to vote for this because it's important to provide safe environments for the kids.

Kristen dufek , who has been leading the campaign for the bethel bond measure, says despite schools not hosting students in person at this point..

The bond money would make a huge difference in helping students even from afar.

Kristen dufek: the coronavirus impact is not forever.

But the changes that we can make now will be affecting students for 30 4050 years.

There's a lot of things that these children need right now if you just take a look at the technology in the textbooks, those are needs that our children have right now, even in a distance learning situation.

Mcgllivray said the last bethel bond passed 8 years ago won with 73% of the vote..

And dufek says she hopes for a simlar victory this year.

Reporting in eugene, emma withrow kezi 9