TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Topeka voters have approved a $143 million school bond issue that is partly aimed at helping enhance school safety measures.
Early results show voters in Topeka Unified School District 501 approved the $143 million bond issue Tuesday. Results of the mail-in vote showed 65 percent of the ballots cast supported the issue. Results were expected to be finalized Monday.
The bond will pay for building Federal Emergency Management Agency-compliant storm shelters at the district’s 12 schools that lack shelters, improving camera systems, adding front-office panic buttons as well as fencing and bullet-resistant window film on entryway doors, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported (https://bit.ly/OCEfV1).
Deputy superintendent Larry Robbins said the goal of the bond was to secure the future of the district’s students and of the community.
“It improves the safety” of USD 501 schools, he said, “and it enhances educational opportunities.”
The bond issue will also pay for a new career-learning center for high-school students and a new elementary school adjacent to Jardine Middle School. That will create the district’s third preschool through eighth-grade campus.
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Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, https://www.cjonline.com
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