Voters who didn’t cast ballots in advance will be going to the polls Tuesday to decide on a $450 million bond issue for the Wichita school district.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., a change in hours from past elections.   Voters who waited for election day will have to go to their assigned polling place, and they can find that location on their voter registration card or by checking the Election Office page at sedgwickcounty.org. or the VoterView page at the Kansas Secretary of State’s web site.   Only voters who live in the USD 259 district boundaries are eligible to vote in the election.

As of late Monday, 5,373 voters cast ballots in person at the early voting locations.  The Election Office also reported sending out 10,146 mail ballots, and 5,858 had been returned.  Voters with mail ballots will need to return them to the Election Office, a community located drop box, or a box inside a polling place by 7 p.m. on Election Day, or they will have to be postmarked by Election Day and received no later than the third day following the election, which is Friday.

Wichita school officials say the bond issue will not increase the school district’s mill levy, and the funding will be used to make a number of needed improvements:

• Begin updating classrooms, labs, and career training facilities to align with best practices in teaching and learning.
• Address critical infrastructure needs such as aging roofs, windows, heating and cooling systems, electrical, and plumbing.
• Enhance safety and security.
• Improve accessibility for students with disabilities.
• Establish a new construction trades FutureReady center to provide up-to-date career training.

Opponents of the bond issue say there will be increased property valuations and there’s no evidence that the building improvements will lead to better student performance and improved test scores.