Up to $100 million in funds for new school building construction and existing school facility upgrades in Flagstaff, Arizona may be made available depending upon the results of the November elections.
Residents living within the Flagstaff Unified School District will be tasked with deciding on Proposition 448, which will provide district officials with the authority to issue general obligation bonds for dozens of construction and upgrade projects.
Those projects may include the new buildings for the Kinsey and Marshall elementary schools, at an estimated cost of $25 million. The Kinsey school was built in 1957, while the Marshall facility was completed in 1952. Both buildings are no longer considered to be adequate for current educational purposes.
Exactly $12 million will go for the rebuilding of the district’s transportation and maintenance facilities, while $6 million will target facility technology upgrades throughout the district.
If approved, the bonds would also pay for purchasing land for future facility construction, as well as absorbing the costs of all architectural, design, and engineering expenses associated with any project.
The primary district for Flagstaff, the Flagstaff Unified School District, is the home to some 16 schools, including three high schools, two middle schools, and ten elementary schools.
District officials have argued in favor of the bond as a matter of timeliness, noting the rising costs of materials for construction.
The Flagstaff Unified School District has an enrollment of around 15,000 students, up from just over 12,400 in the mid-1990s.
By Garry Boulard
