Frequently Asked Questions
About the Troy School Levy for 2023
On average, our elementary school buildings are 81+ years old. Concord Elementary School is 104 years old this year. The Van Cleve 6th Grade Building is 110 years old. Those buildings have served our students and community well for the duration of their existence.
But, simply put, those buildings can no longer keep up with the needs of our students.
Of our nine school buildings, only Troy Junior High School has air conditioning. Many of our buildings have original boilers that can't be repaired should something go wrong because the parts are no longer available for purchase. Every summer, we invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital improvements, such as new roofs. Additionally, our existing buildings are not handicap accessible.
The time has come to give our students the buildings they need and deserve.
Our plan is to put a 6.96 mill combined bond levy on the ballot.
4.66 mill for 37 years = New Construction
2.3 mill for 29 years = .5 mill required by State for maintenance of new facilities and 1.8 mill for infrastructure improvements at the high school
The monthly cost will be $20.30 per $100,000 home value.
Once the bond levy is passed, Troy City Schools will receive $45.6 million from the State to assist with the building project.
An easy way to figure what the levy will cost you is to go to the Miami County Auditor's website.
Search for your home and find your appraised value.
Take that number times 35% because you are only taxed on 35% of your appraised value. Now take that number times .007. You use .007 because the levy is nearly 7 mills. Now you have how much the passage of the levy will cost you annually.
From a geographic standpoint, our school locations also no longer make sense. There is a heavy population of students living in the southern portion of Troy that weren't there when many of our elementary schools were built. Our most southern school is Kyle Elementary School.
There will be new Pre-K through 4 school buildings on the site where Cookson Elementary School currently is located, on the site where Hook Elementary School currently is located and on a site near the “current” Concord Elementary School Building on recently purchased land between McKaig Road and State Route 718
There will be a building for grades 5-6 at a site in the southern portion of Troy on Swailes Road, between Peters Road and SR 25a.
We looked at a map of Troy, which featured where students lived, as a blank slate. We set out to put schools in locations around Troy that were the most densely populated by our students. We found that there were no schools south of Kyle Elementary School. We also heard the resounding response that neighborhood schools are still wanted within our community.
Our goal was to put an affordable number of schools in locations that made the most sense in terms of best serving our student population as close to their neighborhoods as possible.
All of the buildings will be two stories, with elevators. The PreK-4 buildings will look almost identical in terms of blueprint, the interior of all four will be essentially the same, which will cut down on design costs.
Though we understand wanting to see renderings of a new school, that is just not how it works when dealing with the state. For us to get specific renderings from the architect, takes significant money - money that needs to come from the passing of the levy.
We can provide general diagrams of each of the school locations.
One, it’s most cost-effective for us to deliver age-specific instruction to fifth and sixth graders. Take band, for example. Currently, we have the band in one sixth-grade building. If we were to make four K-6 buildings, we would need four band rooms, four band storage rooms, and possibly more band teachers to cover each of those four schools. Fifth and sixth grade is typically the age when electives begin, so it makes sense to have them in one location. Having them under one roof is also more efficient from a cost and personnel standpoint. School personnel have noticed a significant increase in social, emotional, and academic progress while transitioning to the junior high.
Second, from a developmental and social aspect, students in the fifth and sixth grades have different needs from students in grades K-4 socially, developmentally, and in terms of maturity, while at the same time being very different from junior high or high school students by those same measures. A fifth-sixth grade building would allow them to change classes as a team instead of the high school model, in which each student changes classes individually. They also aren’t sitting in the same classroom all day with one teacher, as they typically are in grades K-4.
The updates will include asbestos abatement, complete HVAC renovation, major electrical upgrades and energy-efficient lighting.
When the levy passes in November, we will enter the planning phase. This is an exciting time that would involve us getting feedback from both staff members and families in terms of what those buildings should look like. That planning process would take about one year.
Construction would then begin, with a target of moving into the new schools prior to the 2026-27 school year. All four buildings would be built at once.
The Cookson and Hook buildings would be demolished to make room for the new buildings. With the purchase of the new land near the current Concord site, we would sell the property on which the school currently sits.
We will keep the Forest Elementary School building. It’s the building we’ve put the most money into recently, with a new roof and other upgrades. We could use that space for alternative education programs.
The Concord, Kyle, Van Cleve, and Heywood sites will be demolished and returned to green space. Future use of these locations will be subject to City of Troy zoning regulations.
Our buildings will be built to size with a plan to easily add on (expand) if needed.
Yes, all of the new elementary schools would be handicap-accessible. Our plan would be for each building to have a handicap-accessible unit in their neighborhood school.
Yes. Modern schools are designed with school safety in mind. It will be much easier to control access at the entry points.
Yes. We will partner with an architect that specializes in designing quality, energy-efficient, schools.
It is not our plan to dismiss school employees once we go to the new school buildings. While we need fewer positions in some areas, we feel as though we can get to those numbers through attrition. We will still have the same number of students to educate; therefore, we must maintain a strong workforce. Our staffing costs will go down, but we will do it through attrition.
No changes will be made in the current transportation processes. Any student who lives greater than 1 mile from their school will have the option to be bussed.
Once the bond issue passes in November, we will make it one of our top priorities to determine how those lines are drawn. We will work with a committee of staff and parents to ensure those lines are drawn in a way that makes the most sense and is the most equitable for all three Pre-K through four buildings.
Because this is the maximum term allowed by law - thus helping keep the costs down.
Though a small portion of the property is in the flood zone, nothing will be built in the flood zone itself.
It is cost prohibitive to remodel old schools vs. the cost of new construction. The cost to remodel is $5.5 million more than new construction. This does not include the cost of unknown items incurred during constructions. It would be difficult to remodel schools with students attending school, which could lead to additional costs.
New Pre-k thru 6th = $106,748,203
Renovate = $112,345,896
$5,597,693 Less to Build New!
Hear More From Our Committee
Vote YES! Troy School Levy | Kathi Roetter
Vote YES! Troy School Levy | Alicia Wheeler
Vote YES! Troy School Levy | Mollie Suber
Vote YES! Troy School Levy | Laura Raskay
Vote YES! Troy School Levy | Doug Trostle
Vote YES! Troy School Levy | Bart Denlinger
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