The Rolla Board of Education approved, by its 5-to-2 vote Thursday, a $9.2 million bond issue to be put before voters in April.
After approving to place the bond issue on the ballot during the previous meeting, board members left the amount they would seek until Thursday’s meeting.
“I would encourage you, to only put as much as your needs dictate,” said Gregory Bricker, executive vice president of George K. Baum & Co.
That was what the board did — the high-end estimate of the approved construction the bond will fund is around $9.2 million, with the low-end estimate at $8.5 million.
The three proposed construction projects presented by Mark Reuther, principal of Hoener Associates Inc, each had two parts. They include the creation of new science classrooms and labs on both floors of the high school, remodeling the cafeteria and new classrooms at the junior high and replacement of the modular classrooms at the middle school.
The board choose the full high school project, while limiting construction at the junior high to a new cafeteria and renovations and the middle school to only four new classrooms as opposed to six.
When it came to selecting the complete high school project, board members viewed it as a cost-saving measure, doing all of it now to save money in the future.
