Wichita bond issue by the numbers: A look back

When Robinson Middle School celebrates the opening of its new auditorium, practice gym and storm shelter Tuesday, it will mark the final project of a $370 million bond issue Wichita voters approved in 2008.

Here’s a look at the bond issue by the numbers:

$370 million

Total bond issue passed in 2008

58,620

Yes votes in the November 2008 election

2 percent

Bond issue’s margin of victory

75

Number of schools that received improvements

9

New schools built as part of bond issue (Northeast Magnet High School, Southeast High School, Christa McAuliffe Academy, Dodge Elementary, Enders Elementary, Isely Elementary, Mueller Elementary, Ortiz Elementary and Spaght Elementary)

8

Schools closed since the bond issue was approved. They include three alternative high schools (Metro-Midtown in 2010, Metro-Boulevard in 2012 and Metro-Meridian in 2016), as well as Blackbear Bosin Alternative Middle School and four elementary schools – Bryant, Emerson, Lincoln and Bryant.

60

New tornado safe rooms, making Wichita the first large district in the country to have a safe room in every school

$65 million

Cost of Southeast High School, the largest and most expensive project approved as part of the bond issue. When board members voted to build the new school in 2013, officials said it would cost about $54 million.

The new Southeast, at 127th Street East and Pawnee, replaced the old Southeast High at Lincoln and Edgemoor.

$3.3 million

Cost of converting the old Southeast High School into administrative offices.

The district sold its current headquarters building at 201 N. Water to developer David Burk for $1.2 million in December 2014. Since then, it has been leasing the building from Burk for $4,700 a month, using proceeds from the sale to make the lease payments.

275

New classrooms (not including those in new schools)

17

Portable classrooms removed

1.9 million

Total square feet of new construction

18

New or enlarged cafeterias. In 2013, the board voted to spend another $250,000 from its nutrition services budget to modernize several school cafeterias, installing booths, high-top tables, wall murals and other features intended to increase seating and improve traffic flow.

7

High school music suites

9

New or expanded libraries

20

New or renovated auditoriums

7

Upgrades to high school technical education classrooms

13

New multipurpose rooms

61

General contractors, subcontractors and architectural firms that got bond work

$4.42 million

Fee paid to Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture for managing the bond issue. The company’s standard fee – 1 percent of the total of the bond issue, or about $3.7 million – was paid at the conclusion of the contract in December 2014. It was paid another $720,000 in May 2015 for ongoing work.

The bond issue took longer than expected to complete because in 2011 the board voted to put bond projects on hold. At the time, the district was grappling with losses of about $4.5 million a year in capital outlay money from the state and millions more in federal funds for storm shelters.

7

All-weather turf fields and tracks at high schools

5

All-weather tracks at middle schools

26

Schools with added or upgraded student support space

8

Fine arts or physical education additions in middle schools

7

New high school gymnasiums

5

Swimming pools

6

Tennis court complexes

This story was originally published April 29, 2017 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Wichita bond issue by the numbers: A look back."