What is the purpose of the bond issue?

• The bond issue will fund the Master Facilities Plan which addresses capacity issues across the district. 

• The capacity challenges we are facing, especially at the elementary level, impact instructional and non-instructional spaces such as cafeterias, hallways, restrooms, gymnasiums, and parking.

Is this a district-wide capacity issue?

• The majority of the capacity issues are actually in the elementary buildings. Building a new high school allows Ankeney and Coy middle schools to become elementary schools. In addition, the current Beavercreek High School provides space for just one middle school.

• 3 large portable units at 3 elementary schools, each holding 6 classrooms

• Multiple spaces being shared to provide services for special education, gifted, Title I, or English Learners 

  • 20 rooms in 7 buildings are shared by 2 teachers 

  • 5 rooms in 4 buildings are shared by 3 teachers/staff members

• Non-instructional spaces are used to work with students, including book rooms, storage areas, and kitchens

  • Related service staff working in hallways due to no available space

• Support staff do not have assigned spaces, requiring them to move to different locations each day.

• No collaborative spaces for teams to work

Why build a High School?

• A new high school enables the district to resolve capacity issues at the elementary schools while also responding to needs at the other grade levels. Our students, staff, and community have expressed a desire for 9-12 to be in one building rather than having 9th grade separated at Ferguson Hall. Our middle school programming would benefit from a united learning space as a single building. A new high school also ensures that every student in the district will benefit from the new building. 

What is the bond amount and what is the plan?

• 4.9mil levy 

• $265,000,000 bond

  • $260,000,000 towards master facilities plan

  • $5,000,000 towards capital improvements

What is the cost and how will it appear on the ballot?

• $172 per $100,000 of valuation of your home per year, or $14.33 per month.

• The ballot language for Issue 16 will read: 

PROPOSED BOND ISSUE

Majority Affirmative Vote is Necessary for Passage 

Shall bonds be issued by the Board of Education of the Beavercreek City School District, Counties of Greene and Montgomery, Ohio, for the purpose of constructing, furnishing, and equipping a new high school campus for grades 9-12 and related site improvements and appurtenances, providing new gymnasiums at three elementary schools, providing district-wide capital and site improvements, including health, safety, and security measures, adaptive and accessible equipment, modern and assistive technology, workforce development improvements, athletic facilities, and facilities for fine arts and performing arts, in the principal amount of Two Hundred Sixty-Five Million Dollars ($265,000,000), to be repaid annually over a maximum period of thirty seven (37) years, and an annual levy of property taxes be made outside the tenmill limitation, estimated by the county auditor to average over the repayment period of the bond issue four and nine tenths (4.9) mills, for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $172 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s appraised value, commencing in 2024, first due in 2025, to pay the annual debt charge on the bonds, and to pay debt charged on any notes issued in anticipation of those bonds? 

What is the difference between an operating levy and a bond?

• The easiest way to think about it is that Operating levies are for Instruction and Bond issues are for Buildings.

  • Operating Levy = A ballot measure asking voters to agree to a property tax that seeks a certain millage rate (the taxation rate) that will generate funds either for a specific period of time or on a continuing basis. Operating levies generate money to pay a district’s operating costs, such as salaries, equipment, utilities, etc. Under Ohio's school funding system, emergency operating levies do not increase revenue for the school with inflation, requiring districts to return to voters with new requests. Local operating levies bridge the gap between state funding and the true costs of operating a school district. NOTE: BCSD does not anticipate needing a new Operating Levy to implement the Master Facilities Plan, but does have Operating Levies that will need to be renewed: An Emergency Operating Levy expires 12/2026 and a Substitute Emergency Levy expires 12/2028. Combined, these two Levies make up an estimated 25% of the district’s funding and will need to be renewed prior to their expiration dates.

  • Bond = A ballot measure to fund buildings or major construction projects. It is like a mortgage for the schools, except instead of borrowing from a bank, the district finances the cost of long-term projects through the municipal bond market. When placed before voters, the school district is asking for the authority to sell bonds and then pay the principal and interest on those bonds using money collected from property taxes. Bond proceeds are used to purchase or construct new buildings, renovate and modernize existing buildings, add or upgrade infrastructure systems, and purchase additional equipment. Bonds are used to finance the projects because the payments to the investors are made over a period of years, thus spreading the costs of the projects over a long period of time which reduces the annual impact on property taxes.

If the bond passes, what is the construction timeline?

• The district has selected SHP as our architectural firm and is in the process of choosing a construction firm. Having these two entities selected before election day allows the district to begin work immediately if the bond issue passes. Tentatively, there will be 18 months of design with an expected project completion date of 2029.

What if the Bond Issue doesn’t pass?

• The Master Facility Planning Team identified this as the best path forward for the district. If this Bond doesn’t pass, the Board of Education would have to determine if they will ask voters to support the same plan (at updated pricing) in a future election or reconvene the Planning Team to identify an alternate path forward. 

• If the bond issue is not successful, overcapacity has the following impact:

  • Increased portable units at elementary schools

  • Increased need for cafeteria time (decreased availability of PE space for 3 buildings)

  • Increased class sizes

  • Continued and expanded use of non-instructional spaces for small group learning

Is district enrollment projected to increase?

• The number of homes being built within the district boundaries continues to grow. Some of these developments are already in the works, while others are planned in the future. Both Beavercreek Township and the City of Beavercreek are prime locations for families to live due to access to Wright Patterson Air Force Base and its proximity to Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati.

• Beavercreek City Council reports they anticipate 1,280 single-family homes and 1,260 multi-family homes will be constructed over the next 30 years, leading to a population increase of 5,000 people. (Joint Work Session, 9/16/2024)

• Beavercreek Township Council reports 1,000 “new” lots approved for building. They anticipate meeting or exceeding 1,500 additional units, resulting in an increase of almost 5,000 residents in the next 5-10 years. This would be a 55% increase from the 2020 US Census data. (Joint Work Session, 9/16/2024)

We’ve had bigger graduating classes before - why is space an issue now? 

• We use spaces within schools far differently than in the past. 

  • Specialized classrooms for Career Technical Education courses in grades 6-12 require larger spaces than traditional classrooms 

  • Additional learning opportunities in grades K-5 require additional classroom spaces, such as Skills Lab 

• The special education population increases require additional classrooms to provide appropriate learning environments. 

  • BCSD’s special education population has grown from 12.2% to 16.82% in the past 10 years. In the past 6 years, the district has increased by 306 students with disabilities. These increases require significantly more learning spaces to meet the needs of students. 

  • Many students with disabilities require small group learning spaces, sensory support spaces, and ample space for adaptive equipment and devices to meet physical needs. 

  • Small group intervention spaces are needed to target specific skills and remove barriers to learning. 

Who is Cropper GIS and what data sources did they use to calculate our growth?

• Cropper GIS is a firm that specializes in demographic and facility planning for K-12 school systems, cities, counties, and federal agencies. The firm used demographic data and data obtained from Beavercreek Township and the City of Beavercreek to develop projections that BCSD is expected to have 700-800 more students in ten years.

What are the school district boundaries?  Do property owners outside of Beavercreek City or Beavercreek Township pay property taxes to BCSD?

• Cities and towns have different boundaries than school districts. This map shows the boundaries of BCSD. It includes areas of Fairborn, Riverside, and Kettering. 

• Any property owner who lives within the Beavercreek City School District boundaries will be assessed a property tax if the bond issue passes. This includes homes in Fairborn, Riverside, and Kettering that are within the district boundaries.

Will the district need an additional Operating Levy when the High School is built? 

• BCSD does not anticipate needing a new operating levy to implement the Master Facilities Plan but will need to renew an existing Operating Levy that expires in December 2026.

What Operating Levies are coming? 

• There are currently two Operating Levies that have been voter-approved and will need renewed. 

  • An Emergency Operating Levy that expires 12/2026 

  • A Substitute Emergency Operating Levy that expires 12/2028.  

  • Combined, these two Levies make up an estimated 25% of the district’s funding.

Will the roads in the proposed area support a new high school building?

• A traffic study has already been conducted in the area of the proposed new High School at Alpha Bellbrook Road and Indian Ripple Road. The study was conducted in partnership with the city of Beavercreek, Beavercreek Township, and Oberer Development and also analyzed nearby intersections. The study considered both current traffic volume, projected traffic volume in 2028, as well as future considerations as far out as 2048. The results from the study will be used, in collaboration with City, County, and Township officials, for the necessary infrastructure upgrades to support a high school at the location. 

Will there be a dry hockey field at the new campus?

• The district is planning to have a location for the dry rink at the new campus.

Is BCSD paying on any other bonds right now? 

• Yes; these bonds will be paid off in 2036

When rates go down, I can refinance my house. Can BCSD do the same for a Bond issue?

• Yes, this is called Bond refinancing. School districts, like other government entities, can refinance their existing bonds through a process called "refunding." This is similar to refinancing a mortgage for homeowners.  

• The district took advantage of refinancing bonds in 2020, these bonds were approved by the voters in 2008, and saved $3.5 million on the issuance as we were able to take advantage of a lower interest rate of 1.61% as compared to the 5% interest rate on the original issuance.

Is the district trying to get funds from other sources instead of asking taxpayers for money?

• Yes. In the past 10 years alone, the district has submitted 40 applications for competitive grant funds and has been awarded over $16 million in grant funds to support district initiatives. 

• Awarded competitive grant funds have enabled the district to provide 1:1 student technology resources, safety upgrades to every building, expanded school-based mental health services including social workers in every school, and career technical education programming and equipment for student pathways in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Education and Training, and Business Administration. 

How can you be sure the cost of this project won’t exceed the amount being requested?

• The chosen architects and construction managers will provide the district with a guaranteed maximum price for the project that will include inflationary costs. The district will not exceed the amount approved for the bond.

As more houses are built how will that affect the millage rate and the property tax owed? 

• The county auditor shared this information “When certifying a bond rate for the ballot the county auditor is required to use the certified values that are in effect at the time of the certification and are to assume that will be the value for the life of the bond issue.  For the calculation of Beavercreek City School District’s bond rate we used the values certified for tax year 2023.  When calculating the debt schedule we assume equal principal payments over the life of the bond and apply the market interest rate at the time of certification.”  It is therefore safe to assume based on the county auditor’s certification of the bond rate that as more houses are built the millage needed to pay the bond debt will decrease which will result in a lower tax payment for each homeowner.