facebook-pixel

Granite School District would use $238 million bond for school upgrades, improving earthquake safety

Granite School District will tackle a major overhaul of its buildings should voters approve its $238 million bond proposal on Tuesday.

The 10-year bond would not only rebuild 14 Granite schools, including Cyprus and Skyline High Schools, but also pay for major remodel projects on 17 other facilities across the sprawling district.

The price tag for taxpayers: a $15 per month property tax increase for the average home in the district, valued at $259,000.

“We believe this is the best way to give students every opportunity to succeed,” said Terry Bawden, president of Granite School District’s Board of Education.

Along with rebuilds and remodels, the bond would also allow for seismic, security and maintenance upgrades for every school in the district. About half of Granite schools need repairs and updates to more than 75 percent of their facilities, according to a district study.

Many of those updates would allow for more use of technology in school for the district’s more than 66,000 students. Forty-four schools in Granite are more than 50 years old, meaning many don’t have electrical systems capable of powering daily computer use.

Those older buildings, Bawden said, need improvements just to meet current learning requirements as well as to be fully functional, safe and secure.