FWCS Referendum Appears To Pass In Preliminary Voting Results

While votes from Tuesday’s primary election are still being counted across Northeast Indiana and the Hoosier State, it’s looking like Fort Wayne Community Schools’ $130 million REPAIR 2020 bond referendum is going to pass without much challenge.
 
This is the third REPAIR bond to pass via referendum; the previous two were voted on during the 2012 and 2016 elections.
 
The $130 million bond will focus on quality-of-life improvements across district schools, with Wayne High School, Miami Middle School and Blackhawk Middle School seeing the most support.
 
FWCS spokesperson Krista Stockman says these dollars will allow them an “overhaul of the buildings,” as far as infrastructure goes.
 
“With those schools they’ll be getting new windows, new HVAC systems… Wayne does not currently have air conditioning throughout the building so they will, at last, have air conditioning.”
 
Stockman also says the referendum will provide other schools with money for “secure vestibules,” which she says has been a problem when retrofitting some buildings that are nearly 100 years old.
 
With the REPAIR bonds on the ballot in the form of referenda every four years, Stockman says she expects it will be a while before voters face another while being able to maintain the current tax rate.
 
“This one sort of takes care of the rest of the buildings, finishes off those projects and maintains the same tax rate that we promised since 2012.”
 
As of 4:30 pm Wednesday, the referendum was 75% of votes in the YES column, with 25% voting NO.