K-1 classrooms in new elementary will have their own bathrooms
In this month’s update, Bethel sells $150 million worth of bonds, Elementary #18 moves forward in planning, and Challenger High School Phase I kicks into high gear.
Elementary #18 Educational Specifications
This summer the School Board approved the Educational Specifications for Elementary #18. This 200-page document is available online and contains an incredible amount of details about the new building.
One thing we learned is that each kindergarten and 1st grade classroom in the school will have its own bathroom.
Elementary #18 will be larger than any of our other elementary schools, with room for 700 students in the building, and an additional 200 students in portables.
Bond Sales
Bethel recently sold $150 million worth of bonds at $1.42 per thousand dollars of assessed value. Keeping our promise to taxpayers, this is the same rate that was shown in the voter’s pamphlet.
We were planning for the possibility of higher interest rates (4.95%) during the sale, but the true interest cost at the time of sale was 2.94%.
This saved us $35 million in interest.
This is the first set of bonds to be sold to fund the projects outlined in our voter-approved School Construction Bond.
We are anticipating selling the next set in 2021.
Challenger High School Phase 1
The construction of Challenger High School Phase I (not bond-funded) is well underway. You can get a birds-eye-view of the work with our construction camera and check out a 3D rendering of the new building in the video below.
