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Who can vote? Where do I vote? How can I vote early?
Who can vote? Where do I vote? How can I vote early?
Anyone who lives in the Bartlesville school district and is registered with the appropriate county election board by Friday, January 20, 2023 is eligible to vote on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.
EARLY VOTING on 2/9 and 2/10
(no absentee ballot needed)
Registered voters can also vote BEFORE the election. Washington County early voting will be at City Hall at 401 S. Johnstone on
Thursday, February 9, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, February 10, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
REGULAR VOTING on Tuesday, February 14 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at your local polling place.
ABSENTEE BALLOTS
The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is January 30 at 5 p.m. Absentee ballots must be received by mail at the county election board on or before February 14.
Would ALL students and schools benefit?
Would ALL students and schools benefit?
Yes! Every student would benefit from the textbook and STEM funding, along with Chromebooks, teacher station updates, and a multitude of instructional services funded by the bond issue. Every school would also have specific needs addressed, including maintenance, furnishings, and equipment.
The operational costs borne by the bond issue are also crucial in maintaining current class sizes by allowing most General Fund dollars to be devoted to teacher salaries. This local support is vital since the per pupil funding provided by the State of Oklahoma is lower than in every adjacent state.
State law requires that Transportation bonds be voted on separately. The Bond Transparency Act Notice shows the categorizations for all bond issues from 2013-2023.
Further breakdowns:
The Technology category includes funding to replace the middle school and high school classroom ceiling projectors and electronic whiteboards with new bright touchscreen panels, as the 2019 bond issue funded in the elementary schools. It also funds routine refreshes of Chromebooks and desktop computers, federal E-rate matching funds for network infrastructure, and various services and cellular hotspots in 2025-26 and 2026-27.
The Curriculum category includes physical and electronic textbooks as well as STEM and laboratory science equipment.
The Maintenance category includes projects across all campuses by Sodexo in 2025-26 and 2026-27, which can include roofing, asphalt, repairs, etc.
The Site Needs category are school-specific facility needs such as classroom furnishings and equipment.
The Transportation category is for smaller vehicles such as people movers, team passenger vans, etc. The district route buses do not yet need replacing.
Within the Athletics category are uniforms, equipment, etc.
The Jane Phillips GATE Room project is to renovate the area that serves Gifted & Talented elementary students from across the district, which was relocated from Hoover to Jane Phillips in 2022 to allow Hoover to absorb overflow from Wayside.
Within the Safety category are routine refreshes of equipment such as walkie-talkies, cameras, entry kiosks, etc.
The Printing category is for campus copiers, printers, etc.
Within the Performing arts category are instruments, auditorium items, etc.
Please see the separate FAQ answers about the Wayside and Ranch Heights projects.
What are the details on the Wayside expansion?
What are the details on the Wayside expansion?
A decade ago, Wayside Elementary School had 556 students; this fall it reached 705. New homes continue to be built in the Park Place housing development near Wayside, and if there aren’t enough classrooms, some pre-kindergarten students in the Wayside area will have to be bussed to Hoover.
The bond issue would add classrooms to allow Wayside to serve up to 760 students while providing a larger library and cafeteria along with larger art and music rooms and a protected early childhood playground. The new classrooms would be built to double as an all-school storm shelter.
Wayside would also gain much-needed space for offices, counselors, and other student support programs, as well as more restrooms.
The tentative timeline would be to begin site work in the spring of 2023 in hopes of completing the project by August 2024. The plans below are subject to refinement in the coming months.
CONCEPTUAL SITE PLAN
The district has already used Building Funds to purchase three residential properties on the north side, which will provide a construction laydown area and later become expanded parking.
A new wing would be constructed in place of existing northwest parking, with a restroom and connecting corridor addition on the southwest and multiple interior space renovations.
CONCEPTUAL FLOOR PLAN
The expansion would add a northwest wing for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes, built to double as a storm shelter with safety doors for the windows, etc. New art & music rooms would be included. One existing early childhood pod would be converted into much-needed offices and support rooms, while the other pod would become a new larger library. The existing library would become two regular classrooms. The cafeteria and kitchen would also be renovated.
What are the details on the Ranch Heights expansion?
What are the details on the Ranch Heights expansion?
Ranch Heights Elementary School had an enrollment of 521 a decade ago, but this fall served 616. It is so overcrowded that there are staff members with no offices who have to work in the foyer. Its enrollment will continue to grow as the Bison Trails development at Bison & Nowata Roads is built out.
The bond issue would add classrooms to allow Ranch Heights to eventually serve up to 760 students while providing a larger library and cafeteria along with new larger art and music rooms and a protected early childhood playground. The new classrooms would be built to double as an all-school storm shelter.
The school would also gain much-needed space for their respective offices, counselors, Title I reading programs, and other student support programs, as well as more restrooms.
The tentative timeline would be to finalize the plans by the fall of 2023, with hopes of completing the project by August 2025. The plans below are subject to refinement throughout 2023.
CONCEPTUAL SITE PLAN
A new wing would be constructed on the west, with connecting corridors along with multiple interior space renovations. The plans below are subject to refinement in the coming months.
CONCEPTUAL FLOOR PLAN
The expansion would add a west wing for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes, built to double as a storm shelter with safety doors for the windows, etc. New art & music rooms would be included. One existing early childhood pod would be converted into much-needed offices and support rooms, while the other pod would become a new larger library. The existing library would become two regular classrooms. The cafeteria and kitchen would also be renovated, the existing main office would become Title I space, and an elevator would be added to improve handicapped access to the upstairs fifth grade classrooms.
Why not just build another elementary school?
Why not just build another elementary school?
It is far less costly and more efficient to expand Wayside and Ranch Heights rather than build and staff an entirely new elementary school. An entirely new school would cost more than both of the expansion projects, plus a new school would have over $750,000 in annual expenses for administrators, counselors, art/music/PE teachers, and support staff which can be avoided by simply expanding our existing schools.
Why update the middle and high school classrooms?
Why update the middle and high school classrooms?
In 2019, voters approved replacing old dim projectors and electronic whiteboards in each elementary school with bright new touchscreen panels. Those have proven their worth for elementary students, and the bond would bring that technology, which includes mirroring teacher and student Chromebook screens onto the panels, into the middle schools and high school, which still have the older projectors and electronic whiteboards.
How can you say the bond issues would not increase the tax rate?
How can you say the bond issues would not increase the tax rate?
Oklahoma school districts are funded by annual property tax millages, which would NOT increase with approval of this bond issue.
By state law, the district can only receive 36.49 mills of property taxes for its general fund and 5.21 mills for its building fund. That funding level is not sufficient for any new construction nor large-scale renovations, especially when state formula aid per pupil funding remains the lowest in the region.
Bartlesville patrons approved a 2016 bond issue that increased the annual "sinking fund" millage from about 27 to about 32 mills in response to state funding shortfalls, allowing more operational expenses to be shifted to bond issues to preserve general fund dollars for salaries and consumables, which cannot be funded by bond issues.
The 2019 and 2021 bond issues kept the millage at about 30 mills. The precise millage fluctuates annually due to county valuation changes and the timing of bond sales. That millage is devoted to project areas outlined in each bond issue and CANNOT be spent for any other purposes.
The 2023 bond issue is designed so that the "sinking fund" millage would be kept as steady as possible at approximately 30 mills. As old bonds from the earlier bond issues rolled off, they would be replaced by new ones, keeping the property tax rate steady rather than the millage "sinking" over time if no new bond issues were approved.
You can think of it as a property-tax version of the sales taxes Bartlesville residents regularly vote to renew every so often to fund economic development and perform citywide infrastructure projects.
If voters failed to approve any new bond issues, the sinking fund millage would gradually decline to zero over the next decade or so, as the old bonds were paid off. But the lack of new funding for facilities, maintenance, technology, textbooks, and more would eventually require massive amounts of the district's General Fund to fulfill critical needs. Many elective programs and courses and extracurricular offerings would be eliminated, teaching positions would be cut, and class sizes would increase dramatically. The established excellence in Bartlesville Public Schools is a consequence of voters historically investing in their schools by passing regular bond issues to preserve, protect, and support a comprehensive quality education for all students.
How does a continuing sinking fund rate of 30 mills translate into dollars?
Property owners in the school district are paying a levy of about 30 mills for district’s sinking fund, which is dedicated to projects in voter-approved bond issues. The bond issue would maintain that rate. How that translates into dollars depends on the assessed valuation of the property.
To determine the annual amount being paid, you first have to obtain the “net assessed valuation” by calculating 11% of the “taxable market value” of the property. Many homeowners qualify for a “homestead exemption” which reduces the resulting amount by $1,000. Then you multiply the new value by 0.030, since 30 mills translates to 30/1000, to obtain the annual tax being levied.
For example, a home with a taxable market value of $100,000 would have a net assessed valuation of 0.11 * $100,000 = $11,000.
But a homestead exemption reduces that by $1,000, and $11,000 - $1,000 = $10,000.
Then we multiply by the appropriate millage: 0.030 * $10,000 = $300.
So that homeowner is currently paying (and, if this proposal is approved, they would continue to pay) $300 per year (which equates to $25 per month) in property taxes to the district’s sinking fund to pay off bond issues for school improvements.
What limits are there on property taxes?
Property taxes in Oklahoma, unlike sales taxes, have caps that limit how much more you can pay even as your homestead's assessed valuation increases.
The assessed valuation of a homestead cannot grow more than 3% per year even if the taxable market value of the homestead increases more than 3%.
Property owners who are 65 years or older with an income below a threshold value can have their homestead's assessed valuation frozen so that it doesn't grow over time.
100-percent disabled veterans can qualify for an exemption.
There is also an Additional Homestead Exemption.
Call the County Assessor's Office at (918) 337-2830 for more information on any of these exemptions.
How do our taxes compare to our state peer districts?
How do our taxes compare to our state peer districts?
The state places our district in the C1 Community Group with the districts shown in the chart below. The latest data we have is for the 2022 tax year. Our target millage of 30 is below the peer average, and passage of the 2023 bond issue would keep the target at 30 mills.
While Bartlesville's target is 30 mills, the precise millage fluctuates annually due to county valuation changes and the timing of bond sales. Our sinking fund millage was 27.95 in 2022, and rises to 30.37 for 2023 due to ongoing bond sales and retirements.
Below is the district's sinking fund millage for the past decade. The target was 27 mills from 2024-2017, when voters approved an increase in 2017 amidst a state school funding crisis. Voters approved bond issues in 2019 and 2021 which were designed to maintain a target of 30 mills.
Passage of the 2023 bond issue would maintain the current target of 30 mills.
Didn't schools get a lot of federal funding?
Didn't schools get a lot of federal funding?
The federal government has provided funding to the district that is being used to offset learning losses related to the pandemic, support safer operations and facilities, and cover payroll expenses, with the latter ineligible for bond funding. Federally funded HVAC, restroom, door, and window projects have allowed the maintenance portion of this and the 2019 bond issue to be reduced significantly.
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