A unanimous vote puts a Scottsdale Unified School District bond request on the November ballot.

As the May 12 board meeting agenda noted, “The District’s most recent bond election was approved by voters in 2016 in the amount of $229 million. Those bond funds have been substantially utilized to address capital improvement

priorities throughout the District.”

As anyone at the checkout line, restaurant or gas station can second, costs are going up …

Ten years later after the 2016 bond, the SUSD Governing Board gave the green light for a bond request 63% higher.

Voters in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley will weigh in on the $375 million SUSD bond request in November.

What’s it for?

“The bond would focus on key District priorities, including infrastructure improvements, life-cycle maintenance of existing facilities, instructional technology needs, safety and security upgrades, and replacement of aging buses,” the agenda for the May 12 meeting explained. 

As SUSD Superintendent Scott Menzel noted recently, the process did not allow much time: “June 8 is when the ballot language is due to the county.”

At its April 28 meeting, the SUSD Governing Board received a huge amount of information lumped into the agenda item “Potential Bond Election.”

The board heard about recent bond packages approved by district voters, tax projections for three options and “voter preferences.”

The latter was presented by paid consultant Noble Predictive Insights.

A $350 million received 67% support.

“Yes” responses dropped to 54% for a $475 million bond.

The May 12 board approval of the bond request came roughly a year after a split vote to shutter two SUSD schools.

In the coming months, Menzel will present other possible campuses to close.

“We’re possibly going to ask for a bond while we are talking about closing another school or two or three,” Dennis Roehler, SUSD’s director of Facilities and Bond Management, acknowledged at the April 28 meeting.

Menzel quickly jumped in, noting “our primary investment will be in schools that are thriving.”

Voters will also be asked to give SUSD flexibility to create income.

After another approval by the board, the November ballot will also feature language “authorizing the sale, lease or exchange of district property.”