The Goshen Board of Education took the initial step for placing a bond issue for new classroom space on a future ballot at its October regular meeting.
The Board voted 5-0 to pass a resolution of necessity of issuing bonds, which begins the process of submitting a ballot request to voters, perhaps as early as March 2024. The resolution now goes to the Clermont County Auditor to determine a millage amount.
New home construction is booming within the district’s borders. More than 1,000 new homes are expected to be built in the next 3-5 years, and with new homes comes new Goshen students. With district facilities already operating about 400 students over capacity, there is little educational space to accommodate growth.
As Superintendent Brian Bailey explained during the meeting, this bond request would be very different from similar requests in 2019 and 2022 that were both defeated by voters. Both of these requests sought to build new school buildings, along with additions or renovations to existing buildings.
Using input from the community and the Board, the district developed a plan that would now ask voters to support a phased approach to adding classroom space. Phase I would call for no new school buildings, only additions to existing buildings: 14 classrooms at the high school, 10 classrooms at Spaulding Elementary and 10 classrooms at Goshen Middle School, along with traffic improvements. Total cost for Phase I would be approximately $26 million.
Bailey said the phased approach would address the district’s pressing need for educational space and would do this without adding new modular classrooms.
“This will also allow some of the growth we are expecting to arrive, which will help us continue to refine our master plan for the next 10 to 15 years,” he said. “We have worked very hard to present a plan that meets our educational needs and is fiscally sensitive to the community.”