Back in 2005, voters in the Lamar County School District approved the passage of a bond that allowed the construction of several new elementary schools and performing arts spaces to accommodate continued growth of the district and to update its existing facilities.
District officials are now asking residents to do much of the same, with a continuance of that bond – which pays off next year – to build a new Sumrall High School, Oak Grove Middle School and Purvis High School.
“It’s just the age of those three facilities; they’re getting older,” district superintendent Steven Hampton said. “Sumrall and Purvis high schools were built in the ‘60s, … and then there’s the potential growth that we’re looking at in our district as well, to be able to manage the growth that we see in our district.”
If the bond does pass and the new campuses are built, that measure would leave district officials with several options on what to do with the old buildings.
“In Sumrall, we have some options where we can take the seventh and eighth graders that are at Sumrall Middle now, and move them into some of the classrooms or spaces that are in Sumrall High School now,” Hampton said. “We could bring maybe fifth grade over from the elementary, and have five and six (grades) at the current middle school, and then have seven and eight (grades) at the current high school.
“We could do something similar to that in Purvis as well, so those are some spaces that, if the the bond passes, we start making those plans.”
All three buildings would be designed in the same fashion, and would be built on 16th Section land.
The bond referendum of 2005 increased the school district’s millage – or taxes of property owners in the district – by 9.35 mills.
One mill is equal to one-tenth of a cent. To calculate property tax, divide the millage by 1,000 and multiply it by the property’s assessed taxable value.
In the case of the 2005 referendum, the owner of a $100,000 home paid an additional $935 per year in property taxes. That measure generated $43 million for the school district to construct the aforementioned facilities.
However, Lamar County School District officials are working to prevent any millage increase with the proposed bond measure.
“That’s what we’re looking at, at this point,” Hampton said.
To help spread information about the proposed bond and gather information from residents about the measure, district officials are holding community meetings at various schools throughout the district. The first meeting was held February 19 at the Sumrall High School Library, with the next meeting to be held at 5:30 p.m. February 20 at the Oak Grove Middle School auditorium.
The third and final meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. February 22 at the Lumberton High School library.
“After we have these meetings, we’ll have another work session for our school board, possibly next week,” Hampton said. “Then we have a board meeting on March 4, where if everything seems favorable, then the board will vote on passing the resolution for a referendum on the bond.”
At that point, the issue would go to an election, where residents of the school district would be able to vote whether to pass the measure.
