Norman Public Schools reaches out to students as they consider another multi-million dollar bond for facility and technology upgrades in 2019.

In February of 2014, NPS passed a bond similar to the one they are considering next year. While the district’s education bond was completely paid for by Norman taxpayers, NPS did its best to give the district the best facilities and technologies it could afford to show their appreciation for staff and administrators.

In 2014, the bond amounted to $126 million, with the district further breaking that down into $123 million for facility and technology upgrades and three million for staff benefits and pay increases. Out of the $123 million, $16 million went toward getting all high school students, middle school students, and some elementary schools MacBooks, which was part of Norman’s technology initiative. The rest of the pool went toward upgrading facilities at Norman North and Norman High, including the construction of freshman and college and career centers.

While the vote was almost unanimous in favor of cashing in the bond, the vote was held on an obscure weekday. Most of the people who were able to make the vote were school teachers and administrators. The vote wasn’t properly promoted by the district either, which led many to believe that the district was trying to hold a private vote on something they knew would pass.

This time, the situation may be different. The district sent an email to all students and parents asking for their opinions on the last bond, as well as how they would feel if another one was passed.

While there may be certain individuals who will advocate against local government spending, especially on technologies such as personal computers, it is safe to say that the district knew that a majority of citizens would be in support of another bond being passed because of the materials the last bond was able to supply their kids with.