TOLEDO, Ohio — This November, people who live within the Toledo Public Schools district can expect to see Issue 19, a 5.8 mil bond and levy from TPS asking voters to approve to help with an anticipated $100 million project.
The bond would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about an additional $70 every year for the next 30 years, while the levy would be another $133 for the next five years.
"The bond is going to help provide money for the Scott Park Project," TPS superintendent Romulus Durant said. "We have a bond that's going to pay for the educational portions of it. What we're doing is working with developers as well as those who are investing in a dome, a sports dome in this location."
If approved, this issue would give TPS the green light to build three new academies: business, construction and architectural design, and education on Scott Park for students starting as young as seventh grade.
"So if you're going to the field of engineering, or in this case on this campus, education, you now can get at our kids at seventh grade," Durant said. "Really develop a pipeline within our own profession."
Durant said they're working with Owens Community College, the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University to put these academies in the area in hopes to combat the current shortages, such as the number of teachers.
Rebecca Schneider, the acting dean of the Judith Herb College of Education with UToledo, said partnerships between colleges and high schools have become important to tackle the shortage.
"What I understand TPS is trying to do is get those first two years of college done concurrently with the high school through college credit plus and those sorts of programs, and so that would shorten the time," Schneider said.
The school board has already approved money to begin repairing the roofs of these buildings, while the rest of the work will depend on whether voters decide to approve.