Middletown Board of Education to Vote on Proposed Addition to Central Academy

On Monday, the Middletown Board of Education (BOE) will vote to pass a resolution for a building project to add onto Central Academy.

At the September 24 BOE meeting, discussion focused on building capacity due to new, innovative academic programming at the Middletown City School District’s five neighborhood elementary schools. Adding onto Central Academy would allow the district to deliver new, innovative academic programs and environments to its students and provide educational space relief for its K-5 buildings.  Due to the central location of the building and the fact that the district already has busing serving this facility from the whole district, Central Academy is the most fiscally responsible option with a budgeted $10 million for the project. If board approved, the $10 million project will not require a bond levy.

“In May 2014, the Middletown voters passed a bond issue for $55 million. Through our partnership with the State of Ohio, we only needed to utilize $45 million for the new Middle School and modernized High School. This means we have $10 million we can use on permanent improvement projects such as adding to an existing building,” said Randy Bertram, Treasurer at MCSD.

In the four years since the bond issue passed, taxpayers have only paid on $45 million instead of the $55 million authorized. When Middletown City Schools sells the additional $10 million to complete their modernized building projects, property owners can expect an annual tax increase of approximately 1 mill or $35 annually per $100,000 of valuation for the life of the bonds.

The cost of the project including architect fees, construction management and the actual construction would be limited to the $10 million. Within the $10 million Central Academy project, preliminary discussions indicates Middletown City Schools would have the ability to give more students access to  innovative programming.