Grandview Heights asking for $69.5 million bond for new school, athletic complex

Voters in the Grandview Heights City Schools district will be deciding in November whether to approve a nearly $70 million bond levy to construct a new elementary school and upgrade their athletic complex.

If voters approve the 6.95 mill levy, it will mean $243 per $100,000 of property valuation in additional taxes annually for a minimum of a 36 years.

The nearly $69.5 million bond levy would include $52.2 million for the construction of a new Stevenson Elementary School and $17.3 million for improvements to the district's K-12 Athletic Complex, including replacing home and visitor bleachers and building new fully accessible restrooms, locker rooms, and concession facilities.

Beth Collier, Grandview Heights treasurer, said that Stevenson Elementary is nearly 100 years old and much of the building is well past its useful life.

"It was built at a time when teaching and learning looked very different than than what it does today," Collier said. "The building poses challenges — maintenance and operationally — in terms of roofs that leak and and boilers that that are past their useful life, and so the major mechanical systems are beyond their useful life."

A new Stevenson Elementary and athletic complex would be the completion of the district's facilities master plan. The district passed a bond levy in 2018 that financed a new Larson Middle School and a completely renovated Grandview Heights High School.

If approved by voters, Stevenson Elementary students and staff would attend school during the 2026-2027 school year in modular classrooms located on the lawn just south of the new Larson Middle School during construction, and would possibly share some of the Larson Middle School facilities during that school year, including the cafeteria, gym and media center.

The Grandview Heights bond issue comes at a time of challenges for school district levies in central Ohio. In the 2024 March primary, every area school district's levy on the ballot failed, and in November 2023, there was a mixed bag of some levies, like Columbus City Schools passing, while others failed.

What about the Grandview Yard?

While revenue from the Grandview Yard apartment complex amounts to about 20% of the school district’s annual operating revenue, the district said in an FAQ that the revenue is used to cover inflationary costs and lower the taxpayer burden of the 2018 bond levy.

Due to projected revenue growth of the complex for the district, Grandview Heights expects no new revenue asks for taxpayers at least through 2028.

Cbehrens@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Grandview Heights Schools asking for $69.5 million bond for new school