On the Nov. 2, 2021 ballot, voters will get to weigh in on a 2.47-mill bond for Milford Schools, which would demolish the existing Junior High School and replace it with a new grades six to eight Middle School.

On the Nov. 2, 2021 ballot, voters will get to weigh in on a 2.47-mill bond for Milford Schools, which would demolish the existing Junior High School and replace it with a new grades six to eight Middle School.

Milford Schools wants to pass a 2.47-mill bond on the Nov. 2 ballot to demolish the existing Junior High School building and build a new grades six to eight Middle School.

The bond for 30 years, totaling $55.9 million, would only be for those two primary purposes and site circulation/traffic flow considerations.

Additionally, the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission approved contributing funds of $11,559,512 for the project. Those state-matching funds must be used within 13 months.

If passed, the owner of a home with an appraised value of $100,000 would pay an additional $86.45 in taxes.

Built in 1962, the Junior High School has been the talk of replacement for nearly two decades.

The Sun recently spoke to John Spieser, superintendent, about the bond.

Spieser said a school built in the 1960s was for students of the 1960s and 1970s.

“We’re asking the community for a six-to-eight building that will allow our staff and students to be flexible in their spaces, flexible during a pandemic — we really could have used a space like that now — but very importantly, allow our students to compete with the world. We’re not competing with our neighbors, we’re competing with the world market. So, our students and staff deserve a world class facility and a world class education all wrapped up into one,” he said.

Spieser started as a teacher at the Junior High School in 1994 and said he loves the Junior High, but “it’s time.”

“They deserve an environment that is designed for 2025,” he said.

And it’s not as though the District has let the building go; Spieser pointed out that they’ve done the preventative maintenance.

“It gets to a point where this facility is, how much money do you spend on repairing a roof? Do you just repair sections of it; do you repair the whole thing? It’s not as if it hasn’t been maintained,” he said. “I would invite anybody to walk through that building now; you could eat off the floors, it’s pristine. It’s beautiful. But we’ve been putting lipstick on a pig for a long time.”

After the previous failed attempt at a bond measure on the May 2019 ballot, then-superintendent Nancy House created and participated in Community Advisory Committee meetings consisting of a variety of stakeholders within the community, including parents with children in the schools, business owners and those without children in the schools.

The overall conclusion of the CAT was that they wanted state funding to help with the expenses, to address only a new Middle School, and reduce the length of the bond from 37 years to 30 years.

The bond amount itself has also gone down considerably, from the $98 million ask in 2019 to $55.9 million for the one slated on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Dave Meranda, Milford Schools board member, who also participated in the CAT meetings, said the Board has met all of those requirements.

“We are doing everything the community told us two summers ago, so we’re just following directions from the community,” he said.

In a quote provided to The Sun, Chris Hamm, board president, said buildings do not necessarily make for better education, but can “restrict education and student growth.”

“Milford is consistently in the top 10 percent of school districts in Ohio by most measures and rankings, especially in life-preparedness. And is one of the top school districts for managing money. (Balance Sheet and Auditor of State Awards) and transparency (Ohio Checkbook, Live Broadcasts, Access to board agenda and attachments prior to meetings, in-person since June 2020 with public comment),” Hamm continued. “No one wants more taxes, but a good school district fuels a community and improves assets. We have a 13-month window to utilize these state funds and only one November to do it.”