NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Now that the Hutchinson USD 308 Board of Education has given the go-ahead to a bond amount, it's time to let the public know what that would likely cost.
"Sixty five percent or more of the 1,700 people that took the survey said they would support around an $8 increase on $100,000 house on a monthly basis. So an $8 a month increase. That equates to about $110 million," said USD 308 Superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson. "The board made the decision that they would approve up to $110 million going forward. Now our next steps are finding the time that they want to do that."
This bond will likely include a 6-8 grade attendance center and a center for child care.
"It really kind of comes into four areas," Johnson said. "The middle school being the largest part of that, early learning center. So our pre-K population is just growing that need for getting students ready for kindergarten and the three and four year old population is growing. Conversations around a daycare because we know that's a huge need in our community and then just some upgrades to our elementary schools. And so we may have to prioritize, obviously the middle school is gonna be the biggest part of that 110 million and then really start prioritizing some of those other pieces. But early learning is definitely a priority in there and then how can we, is there a way to combine maybe early learning and daycare so that we have a one-stop shop for our parents if we can make that happen? Not a lot of land in our footprint."
The 6-8 center would need to go where the practice soccer fields are now to make it work.
"We need about 25 acres for our middle school for a 900 person, 900 student school is gonna take about 25 acres," Johnson said. "The only place that we have land in our 14 square mile boundary is at 23rd and Severance where the soccer fields are, and so as we were having this conversation about new middle school, the first thing we said was, would it even fit there? Because if it's not going to fit there, that's really gonna determine can we even approach a project like this? It will fit there at the 23rd and Severance. So I'm working with the city about how we can move those two ball diamonds, and so the conversation hopefully will be that we'll get those ball diamonds moved where there are some other ball diamonds and we'll work with the city on that. Then I've asked them, where could we maybe put some soccer fields? We are the last school in our league that has a grass soccer field. Everyone else plays on turf. So when our students leave and they go play at other schools, they're playing on turf. A lot of times in order to get ready to go play at those schools and be competitive, they're practicing on some of our turf fields. So I think we'll just maximize some facilities that we already have. But we do know that that is a huge community gathering spot."
The vote for the bond will most likely take place in early to mid 2025.
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