BY SUE KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
TRENTON -- Edgewood Schools voters will be asked in November to pass the same bond issue they rejected last week.
In a special meeting Saturday, the Edgewood Board of Education voted unanimously to resubmit an $18.9 million bond issue to voters in the Nov. 3 general election.
It will be the fifth time in two years voters have been asked to pay for added classrooms in this rapidly growing school district just south of Middletown.
"We sat down three or four years ago, before the growth of this magnitude got here, and met with a planning committee to plan for growth -- before we got to the critical stage," said board President John Thomas. "The issue at hand right now is: The future is here. We're beyond the critical point."
Enrollment has increased from 2,540 students in 1993 to about 2,900 during the past school year, an increase of 14.2 percent. Projections call for the district to grow to between 3,500 and 3,600 students by 2005.
Superintendent Dale Robertson said when classes start this fall with 25 or 26 students in each room, the community will see firsthand how crowded the buildings are. By year's end there could be 30 students in some classrooms as new children enroll.
The district is running out of options, Mr. Robertson said. Trailers and other short-term solutions are not practical because of cost, particularly because the district will need to dip into year-end reserves to balance its budget.
"I believe we have done a good job of educating a grass-roots group of people about our need and school financing," Mr. Robertson said. "Now it's time for those people to step forward. . . . We don't want to get to the situation where we have no money to spend and dilapidated buildings that are too small."
The bond issue would pay for a two-story addition at Babeck Elementary School, a 78,900-square-foot expansion of Edgewood High School, a connector between Trenton and Bloomfield elementary schools, classroom renovations and an upgrading of the gymnasium at Trenton. The exact millage of the bond issue will be determined by the Butler County Auditor's Office. Treasurer C.G. Uebel said the November millage may drop slightly from 3.94 mills because the district's debt will be reduced once it pays the principal due for 1998 on past bond issues.
Voters turned down the bond issue last Tuesday, with 51.6 percent voting "no." The final unofficial result was 1,423 to 1,335.
