Lolo School Bond Issue Fails by Only 43 Votes [AUDIO]
The good news for Lolo School's bond issue was a 60 percent voter turnout. The bad news was that the issue failed by only 43 votes.
Lolo School Superintendent Michael Magone said on Wednesday, October 9 that officials have planned a public meeting to talk about the vote on Monday, October 14.
"Unfortunately, we lost by 43 votes, but it was an incredible 60 percent turnout, which is colossal for any community," Magone said. "We'll be holding a community input session, and we'd love to have folks from the community show up to let us know why they voted 'no', and most importantly, what we do next."
Magone said he has received some feed back on why the bond issue failed.
"Some just wanted more information," Magone said. "Some were wondering why only the K-4 building was proposed, which was mostly because of cost to the community. Some are wondering why we just don't sell the school, which we planned to do in a later phase of the building program. Finally, you've got a number of people, regardless of the issue, that just don't want to see their taxes raised."
Magone listed the reasons why the bond issue was so important to the future of the school.
"Safety and security are the number one priorities, being right on Highway 93, the busiest highway in Western Montana," Magone said. "Being on the hillside, there's a real lack of space for parking, for parents to drop off or pick up kids. There's no further room to construct buildings, and we have an increase in enrollment in the last several years, so we're just out of room."
Magone said school officials were disappointed with the results of the mail-in vote.
"Obviously, we're sad and a little bit disappointed, actually a lot disappointed that it didn't pass," Magone said. "But, I don't think people have given up, because we still have issues to address, we just have to figure out how to do it."
The meeting to address the issues over the failed bond issue will be this Monday, October 14, at 7:00 p.m. in the Lolo School upper gymnasium.
Lolo School Superintendent Michael Magone