By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

OXFORD - Talawanda voters will be asked in November to approve a $9.2 million bond issue to pay for construction of a building to replace Stewart Elementary School, which closed in June.

On Monday, the school board voted unanimously to put the 1.19- mill issue on the ballot. It is the district's third try in the past year to win voter approval. Two larger issues were rejected last February and in November 2002.

"We've taken it down to the lowest possible amount,'' said superintendent Phil Cagwin.

No proceeds from the bond issue are earmarked for improvements at any other building in the district, as was the case in previous issues, Cagwin said. It would be used only to build a school large enough for 500 students in grades K-5. The school would be constructed on board-owned property on Kerr Road, near Booth.

Taxes would increase about $36 annually on a $100,000 house, Cagwin said.

But some say the bond issue will still have a hard time passing, citing the economy and uncertainty of the effort to split the district.

"I can think of 10 reasons why this wouldn't pass,'' said Marna Evans, a member of Citizens for Fair Taxation, a group that has worked against previous bond issues. "The atmosphere is not favorable for a bond issue right now."

Evans said her group would meet Thursday to decide whether to support the issue. Personally, she said, she is undecided.

Meanwhile, Cagwin said the district is behind schedule on setting up portable classrooms at the two elementary schools to house the students being displaced by Stewart's closing.

"It's going to be tight. We're making alternate plans," Cagwin said.