Loyola City Schools recommends $68.4 million bond to build three new K–4 primary schools after survey support

Loyola City Schools officials onended a community forum presenting a recommended master plan to replace the district’s three primary schools with three new kindergarten-through-fourth-grade buildings and to finance the work through a proposed $68.4 million bond.

Superintendent Tim Weber opened the forum and invited architect Mike Richley and Treasurer Rhonda Johnson to walk residents through the plan, community survey results and the expected tax impact. "We are now down to two options," Richley said, describing a process of traffic and geotechnical studies, steering-committee review and public engagement that narrowed an initial set of eight alternatives.

The district commissioned a statistically valid public-opinion survey of 207 adults conducted March 5–19 with a reported sampling error of about 6.81 percentage points. Richley said 60% of respondents rated the three-new-K–4 configuration ("Option Blue") as a good idea; the alternative plan of two K–2 schools plus a separate 3–4 building ("Option White") received less support. "So this is the final master plan," Richley said, announcing the steering committee and board were recommending Option Blue.

Treasurer Rhonda Johnson presented the financing framework: the district estimates the primary-schools project budget at $68,400,000, to be financed by a school-district bond. She explained how district valuation sets borrowing capacity and walked through how mill levies translate to property-tax bills. Johnson said the full ballot language would reflect about a 7.5-mill levy, but because an existing high-school bond (about 3.36 mills) will roll off in December 2024 the net new levy to homeowners is estimated at roughly 4.17 mills. Using the district’s examples, she said the net cost to the owner of a $100,000 home would be about $146 per year.

Richley outlined major cost components and temporary-site needs: roughly $16.7 million for new construction (per cited square footage), about $1.1 million to abate and demolish the three existing primary buildings, and additional expenses for modular "swing space" installation and site mobilization. He emphasized that fewer temporary school sites reduce mobilization and utility-setup costs.

The team reviewed multiple swing-space options and constraints. Sites evaluated included Hilltop Park, St. James (parking lot), the Civic Center green space, Grove Park and Crescent Park. Richley said St. James was ruled out because contract nuances with the Archdiocese prevented approval; the Civic Center was undesirable because taking that public asset offline would disrupt community use; Grove and Crescent posed access and railroad-adjacency challenges. The plan the district is leaning toward places modular temporary campuses at district-owned locations: the high-school softball field and portions of the middle-school yard and parking lot to preserve access to gyms and dining facilities.

Richley described a phased schedule: build modulars at the high school for an estimated 18-month Hilltop occupancy while Hilltop is rebuilt; next move Vermont and Elm students into the modulars staged at the high school and middle school for their respective 18-month construction periods; and restore athletic fields and parkland after each phase. He said an architect selection and roughly a year of design work would follow a successful ballot outcome, with modular installation targeted for late 2025 and full project completion and re-occupancy expected in the 2028–29 timeframe.

On the administrative side, Johnson said the board will need to adopt several resolutions in June and July and work with the Ohio Department of Education, the Ohio Department of Taxation, the county auditor and the board of elections to place the bond on the ballot. No board vote or formal ballot measure was recorded at the forum; officials described the November 5, 2024 election date as the district’s target if the board advances the measures.

The district posted the survey, meeting materials and prior forum recordings on its website for public review, and Superintendent Weber invited attendees to speak with facility-steering-committee members after the presentation. The board is expected to consider final master-plan approval next month and to continue fall outreach with additional conceptual plans and floorplates.