Wichita School Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said Wednesday that school officials will wait for the final count on the special school bond election before deciding what the next steps will be.
The unofficial count shows that voters defeated the $450 million bond issue proposal by a margin of only 228 votes, less than one percent, in Tuesday’s election. There are still a number of mail ballots expected to be received through Friday at the Election Office.
In a news conference, Bielefeld expressed thanks to the voters who turned out for the election. He said even though the results of the vote are not clear at this time, Wichita Public Schools will remain dedicated to making every student future ready, “the facility needs have not gone away and won’t until we have funds to address them, and we are committed to running the district in the most efficient way while serving all of our children.” He said the process of engaging the community on the bond issue over the past few weeks has been largely positive and there have been good conversations about the needs of the district.
Bielefeld said the board of education has voted to advance the facilities master plan, and if the bond issue fails in the final count it will just take longer to put the plan into effect.
The plan calls for closing some school facilities and moving programs to new or repurposed buildings, five elementary schools and two middle schools would be rebuilt, and there would be updates to classrooms and labs, along with the creation of a FutureReady center for career training.
