Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Facilities topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lakeville school board to ask voters to approve $139 million plan to expand middle schools
Summary
Members of the Lakeville Public School District board said at a recent meeting they will ask voters to approve a $139 million plan to expand middle-school capacity, describing the request as focused on critical needs and more cost-effective than building a new school.
A member of the Lakeville Public School District board said the board will ask voters to approve a $139 million plan to expand capacity at the district’s middle schools, stressing the request targets critical space needs rather than discretionary, “big shiny” projects.
“We would not make this ask lightly … unless it was a critical need and we believe as a board that it is,” the board member said, describing input from building administrators and the superintendent about overcrowding at the middle school.
A second board member said the proposal is aimed at necessary improvements and fiscal responsibility. “We’re not building palaces here,” the member said, adding that an alternative—constructing another middle school—would be roughly $100 million more. “So people see $139 million price tag and think, wow, that’s a lot of money. But really it’s the most cost effective way to expand our middle schools,” the member said.
Board members repeatedly framed the measure as a judgment call driven by building-level needs and a desire to avoid excessive spending while preserving the tax base. No formal motion or vote on placing the question before voters was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.
Next steps described by board members in the discussion were to move forward with asking voters for approval; timing and ballot placement were not specified in the transcript.
