LCSD decides on bond issue – hassteveclarkresignedyet

LAMAR COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) – After falling short of enough votes to pass a special election in May, the Lamar County School District is giving its $117 million bond another shot in the Nov. 5 general election.

Nothing has changed on the financial checklist the county expects to cover with the bond issue

“We still have plans to build a new Sumrall Middle School, a new Oak Grove Middle School, a new Purvis Middle School, a new office building at Oak Grove Elementary and a new multi-purpose building for Lumberton Elementary,” said LCSD Dr. Stephen Hampton

Hampton said that after the first referendum, some people in the community expressed support for the bond issue, but there are others who do not want the bond to pass.

Some people voiced many of their concerns on a Facebook page called “Lower Taxes in Lamar County.”

Another question came up: Part of Pearl River County overlaps the Lamar County School District, and those Pearl River County residents want to know if they can vote on the bond.

“People who live in Pearl River County but are in our school district will be voting for this bond referendum,” Hampton said. “It will be on the November 5 ballot.

Simply put, anyone who is within our school district’s queue will be eligible to vote and ultimately pay the deposit.”

Hampton says there are concerns about where new schools are being built. Some residents are partial to some of the selected locations, including Oak Grove High School and Sumrall High School.

Hampton said the sites were chosen to help keep costs down.

“These sites are also on Section 16 land that we own, that land is already owned by the school district,” Hampton said. “We won’t have to spend a single dollar to buy land.

“All of the money from the proceeds of this bond will go directly into the building, and it will be a cost-saving measure for the taxpayers of Lamar County.”

The opposite Facebook page expressed concern that the money was being asked for expansion projects for the district, which has an enrollment cap.

But Hampton said not only is that not what the district expects, LCSD is already facing an overcrowding problem.

“We currently have 49,506 square feet of portable classrooms in our school district,” Hampton said. “And so this bond issue will allow us to eliminate all those portable classrooms.

“It will help us increase the number of students we have now, but it will also help us prepare for the future because we want to make sure we’re looking at our trends. When we work with the demographer, we will see our enrollment increase plus just the growth in our district. The transfer of this contract would not only be a tremendous benefit to our school district, but would also be a tremendous benefit to the economic growth of Lamar County.”

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