MORROW COUNTY — Morrow County School District Board of Directors voted to place a general obligation bond on the May ballot.

The school board held its regular meeting Feb. 10 at Irrigon Elementary School, where members unanimously passed the bond resolution, according to a press release from the school district.

The official vote follows a year of work by the district’s Community Bond Advisory Committee, which presented its final bond recommendation to the board in January.

Prior to the vote, the public had the opportunity to provide feedback on the draft recommendations for several weeks in November and December.

“We are very excited to move forward with the proposed bond for the district, which if passed will provide crucial facility projects across our district, benefiting all our students,” Richard Cole, board chair of the Morrow County School District, said in the press release.

The bond committee’s work included comprehensive reviews of all of the district’s schools and facilities. Committee members reviewed facility assessments, toured buildings with school principals, examined bond financial options and prioritized projects. They noted while their proposed projects do not address all of the district’s facility needs, these projects are the most crucial one’s right now:

• Irrigon Jr/Sr High School, which was built in 1978, has significant structural problems. Because of these issues, the school will be replaced with a new building to provide students with a modern educational environment.

• Riverside Jr/Sr High School, built in 1968, will undergo a remodel and additions for more classroom space and gym to support future enrollment.

• Heppner Jr/Sr High School and Heppner Elementary will undergo restructuring. The high school will be transformed into a kindergarten to 12th grade campus with grade level-separation, resulting in operational savings and safer environment for elementary students.

• Sam Boardman Elementary will make parking and traffic flow improvements, including a dedicated bus loop for safety.

• A.C. Houghton Elementary, Irrigon Elementary, Morrow Education Center and Windy River Elementary will implement security and safety improvements including secure main entries, cameras and door access control.

The district was notified it qualified for a matching grant of $6 million from the Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching Program. If voters approve the bond, the district gets the grant.

The amount of the proposed bond is $204.4 million. The estimated bond rate would be $2.99 per $1,000 assessed value, and the bond would span 20 years.

Taxpayers in Morrow County School District are not paying for a school district bond or levy. The last general obligation bond was passed in 2001 and expired in 2021. The last operating levy, which was not for facility construction or upgrades, passed in 2012 and expired in 2016.

According to county tax records, in Morrow County industrial and utility companies pay approximately 71% of the taxes on assessed property values due to the amount of property they own.

Morrow County School Board and CBAC said the funding situation for projects in Morrow County is favorable for individual taxpayers, as the majority of the current tax base consist of companies, according to the press release.

In the next three months, Morrow County School District will run an information campaign to inform stakeholders about the scope of the bond, its costs and what it will mean for the success of students in the district.