School board sets maximum bond package for career-technical and bus facilities after project hearing; staff to refine campus access plans

The Northwest Allen County Schools Board of School Trustees on July 21 held a project and preliminary determination hearing and established a maximum bond issuance of $88,850,000 to finance a proposed career-technical education (CTE) center and a new transportation facility. The board voted to approve a project resolution, a preliminary determination resolution and a reimbursement resolution to allow the district to move forward with design and later issuance if the board elects to proceed.

The hearing matters because both projects would be financed through debt and because state law requires public hearings before a school corporation issues bonds or enters leases above statutory thresholds. “Pursuant to Indiana Code 20-26-7-37 … and Indiana Code 6-1.1-20-3.5,” a staff member summarized at the start of the hearing, “these public hearings and the consideration of resolutions represent the beginning of the legal process.”

District staff described two separate facilities. Dr. Bidding, a district staff member leading design presentations, said the proposed CTE building is “roughly 89, 90,000 square foot” and would house 21 half-day programs for juniors and seniors, including early childhood, nursing, culinary, welding, construction trades, engineering, fire rescue and criminal justice. He said the building would include high-bay areas and exterior learning spaces such as a greenhouse and outdoor civil-construction “sandbox” for hands-on training. The CTE timeline presented shows schematic design continuing,…