Republic School District will ask voters in April to approve a $47 million no-tax levy increase bond issue for new school

REPUBLIC, Mo. (Edited News Release/KY3) - The Republic School District will ask voters in April to approve a $47 million no-tax levy increase bond issue to fully fund a 5th and 6th-grade center.

The school board approved the ballot language on Thursday. Other projects could possibly be included if funds allow.

The district anticipates adding approximately 1,000 new students in the next three to five years as the city’s businesses and housing grows.

Early Childhood, Elementary Space, Land Purchase

In April 2021, our community supported a no-tax levy increase bond issue, which provided the opportunity to build the new Early Childhood building, freeing up classroom spaces in many of the elementaries, and begin the purchase of land for future buildings. The district purchased a 78-acre tract near the city of Republic’s Parks and Recreation expansion near the new Amazon distribution center.

New Building

In gathering feedback from stakeholders, there was a strong consensus for the district to build a 5th and 6th-grade center on our newly acquired land. This would be a building in which every 5th and 6th-grade student from across the district would attend. This building would offer a variety of benefits for our students and our district, including the following:

• It would allow us to remove approximately 400 students from the Republic Middle School AND about 80-100 students from each elementary building.
• A 5th and 6th-grade center would help us accommodate student growth while still maintaining our goals for small class sizes.
• In addition, adding this building would provide 5th and 6th-grade students a more gentle transition to middle school with age-appropriate programming and curriculum.

In January, the district will send a survey regarding other potential future facilities, as well as calendar preferences for the next school year.

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