Voters in Blaine County went to the polls Tuesday to select a Canton School Board member and answer a bond question for Geary Public Schools. There was also a school board election in Calumet, in Caddo County.
In that race, Jimmy Percival took 75% of the vote, or 48 votes, to Bailey McDoulett’s 25% or 16 votes.
At Canton, Issac Sanderson was seated on the board, gaining 115 votes to 110 cast for Heather Smith.
On the bond issue, the measure passed by a 70.16 % vote. Bond issues require a supermajority of 60% or more yes votes.
The question, whether to issue $5 million in bonds to bridge the gap between what the school’s insurance carrier paid on the 2025 fire and the cost of constructing a new, K12 campus on the footprint of the destroyed structure, won the day with 268 yes votes to 114 no votes.
The district had lobbied for the new campus because almost half the students have been housed in a 1960s era school that is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The building had been ‘grandfathered’ in for many years, but that exception expired in 2018. The cost to renovate the elementary school is more than the cost of rebuilding the high school.
Bonds are sold to insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions who in turn offer them to their clients as a stable investment with a regulated return and tax advantages.
The new bonds will be for 10 years. The money should start coming to the school about the time school ends and construction on the new campus should be completed in not more than 18 months. It will be repaid in twice yearly increments, as property taxes are collected.