Cincinnati school board members are expected tonight to vote to place a $480 million bond issue for school construction on the November ballot, despite the sluggish economy and consumer nervousness over corporate scandals.

        The seven-member board also weighed other factors that could deter voters from supporting the bond issue:

        Competition on the November ballot could include a request for a Hamilton County sales tax hike of about a half-cent for a proposed light rail system along Interstate 71.

        The district is in the midst of a search for a new superintendent, who may not be in place when bond campaigning begins.

        Voters might hesitate to support the district after the Ohio Department of Education recently announced that many of the district's elementary schools aren't meeting goals for improvement in student achievement.

        National uncertainty after the Sept. 11 attacks could dissuade voters from being generous.

        If other districts can be used as bellwethers, Cincinnati school officials might look to Mount Healthy schools. Voters in the 3,800-student school district Tuesday defeated an 8.99-mill operating levy, even though the district showed dramatic improvements in school achievement on its state report card.

        “For the most part, we were hearing people were satisfied with the direction we were moving as a school district, but the economy was making it tough for them to vote for the levy,” said David Horine, superintendent of Mount Healthy Schools.

        Such challenges are nothing new.

        “There's no good time to go for a levy,” said Roger Effron, president of Effron & Associates, a Cincinnati educational consulting firm. Levies always face competition on the ballot, he said.

        Most Cincinnati board members say now is the best time to ask voters to support the planned $1 billion construction project that will renovate 31 schools and build 35 more over the next decade.

        At least five of the seven board members must support it to get on the ballot. The board has until Aug. 22 to file with the Hamilton County Board of Elections to get the issue on the Nov. 5 ballot.

        Board members are confident they have developed a cost-effective construction plan to rebuild every school in the district.

        They say they've been perfecting the plan for nearly a decade, since the district failed to pass a $348 million bond issue in 1993 for school construction.

        “It can be the best (economic) climate in the world, but if you don't have a compelling case you're not going to have public support,” said Brewster Rhoads, the district's levy campaign manager since 1991. “The district has spent nine years getting it right.”

        Officials say securing the voter-supported funding now will guarantee all 66 schools are fixed, rather than having some neighborhood schools ignored if money runs out.

        They say the schools, which are 58 years old on average, desperately need repairs.

        Of the total $1 billion needed, the district has identified about $300 million that will be used to finance the project, including payments from the city and Hamilton County in lieu of property taxes from Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park.

        If voters support the $480 million bond issue, the state will contribute more than $200 million toward the unprecedented building project.

        Cincinnati school officials will need to ask voters to approve a 4.89-mill bond issue to fully finance the project's four phases. The cost would mean an additional $143 annually on a home with a market value of $100,000.

        Board member Catherine Ingram said she sympathizes with voters who may be feeling financial pressure from the lagging economy, but she is leaning toward voting to place the bond issue on the ballot.

        She said the completed project will be an economic boon for Greater Cincinnati by bringing jobs to the area. State-of-the-art schools also will improve neighborhoods throughout the city and therefore make the region more attractive, she said.

        What board members don't want is for the project to be left incomplete. For that reason, approving the bond issue in November makes sense, Ms. Ingram said.

        “I want to be certain that those dollars are earmarked for capital funding and nothing else,” she said. “Therefore, we will not fall into the trap that got our buildings into the shape they're in right now.”

        Board member Melanie Bates said the district can't wait around to hire a new superintendent.

        “This is my eighth year as a board member, and this new superintendent will be my fifth superintendent,” said Ms. Bates, who had served seven years on the state school board.

        “You can't wait for superintendent stability. The board has to assume leadership. We have to be the leadership in the district that constituents look to for stability and direction.”

        She and other board members say they can't ignore attractive long-term interest rates on bonds, which, at under 5 percent, are as low as they've been in two decades. That could save taxpayers millions of dollars in interest over the life of the bonds, board member John Gilligan said.

        They also want to lock in the state's school construction funding, which some worry may not be around indefinitely as the state continues to face budget crunches.

        Cincinnati school officials say they are working on improving achievement, including overhauling low-performing schools, and they say they can't ignore the sorry state of the school buildings.

        “We should not hesitate to go ahead and replace these rundown schools,” board member Harriet Russell said.

        “We know to ignore or postpone it will simply make the problem more expensive.”

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