District Receives $4 Million Bond Fund Match Commitment from State August 2016

By Dr. Heather Cordie

We have been sharing with you progress of our bond measure discussions throughout the 201516 school year. At a June 8th Board meeting, our Board of Directors approved placing a $247.5 million general obligation bond measure on the November 8, 2016 ballot. The decision to move forward with a bond is a result of the District’s urgent need to address overcrowding challenges district-wide, but especially at Sherwood High School. If approved, the bond is expected to fund projects including safety and security upgrades, curriculum materials, deferred maintenance projects including seismic upgrades, construction of a new high school to increase capacity, conversion of the current high school to a middle school and conversion of Laurel Ridge and Sherwood Middle to elementary schools, relocation of district programs and departments to the existing Hopkins Elementary site, upgrades to technology infrastructure and purchase of new and replacement technology devices, land purchase, site improvements, and bond issuance and building costs. These priority projects were identified through several public Bond Visioning Committee meetings and a community forum, where we enlisted the participation and input from community members, parents, staff, and students to determine the greatest needs for our facilities and support for our young learners. The construction of a new high school is expected to be completed for students to arrive in Fall of 2020. The decision to build the school was made by the Board and District leaders to ensure Sherwood remains a one high school community, and so we are able to offer a contemporary, state-ofthe-art school that can enrich our growing high school population and provide the greatest opportunities for programmatic skill-building in the areas of STEM and CTE. Currently, our high school is over-capacity by approximately 150 students, and we expect many more to arrive in the near future based on demographic projection studies of Sherwood’s residential development. The new high school will be designed to include collaborative learning spaces, new athletic fields, gymnasiums, stadium, and performing arts spaces that will comfortably accommodate the student body and the enjoyment of performance and competitive events and activities. We are also excited to share with you that we learned in early July from the Oregon Department of Education that Sherwood School District will receive a fund-matching commitment of $4,468,542 under the Oregon School Capital Matching (OSCIM) grant program. The OSCIM Grant Program was established by Senate Bill 447 (SB 447), and the primary goal of the grant is to encourage communities to pass local school district general obligation bonds to address the deferred maintenance challenges present in Oregon’s schools. Out of 29 Oregon school district

applications, Sherwood was one of 11 districts to receive a commitment. In order to receive the grant, the District must provide matching funds from general obligation bonds approved by the voters in the upcoming election on November 8, 2016. If Sherwood voters approve the bond measure in support of Sherwood Schools, the estimated incremental tax rate is $0.50 per $1,000 of assessed value above the 2016 tax rates. This means a home with an assessed value of $250,000 would pay additional taxes estimated to be $125 per year, or approximately $10.42 per month. As Sherwood’s population grows, the dollar amount per household will likely decrease as the cost is spread out among additional taxpayers. A Bond Campaign Committee has been formed and is in the process of reaching out to the Sherwood community to inform and educate about the bond measure - how the bond will affect taxpayers, and what projects will be funded as a result of voter approval. The greatness of our schools has been one of many reasons so many families come to live in the Sherwood community - and many more residential developments are on the way! We want to continue to be able to serve all future generations of students with the level of excellence that we do today, and that will require providing spacious, safe learning environments for students to learn and grow. Passing of a bond in 2016 will allow Sherwood Schools to begin to resolve current capacity challenges, prepare for future growth, offer exceptional academic and career-readiness programs, and ensure Sherwood remains A Great Place For All Kids! Please join us in a vote of YES for Sherwood Schools! To learn more about the bond measure, please visit the Bond Campaign Committee web site at: www.yesforsherwoodschools.org.