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Dayton Public Schools breaks ground on 26th and final school
Margo Rutledge Kissell
July 28, 2010
Dayton Public Schools on Tuesday, July 27, broke
ground on its 26th and final building in the district's $627 million
construction program.
District officials joined city leaders, community members and alumni at the
ceremony on Huffman Avenue to break ground for Wright Brothers PreK-8 School.
Since the first ground was broken six years ago for Kiser and Wogaman preK-8
schools, 15 new schools have been built and occupied, which the district says
has brought unprecedented renewal to neighborhoods across the district.
The construction project was made possible through passage of a 2002 bond
issue. The district's local share is 39 percent, while 61 percent of the cost
is provided by the state, through the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
I wrote a story in May reporting that Miami Valley school districts have spent
more than $1.8 billion on school construction since 1997, thanks to available
state funding that helped fuel an unprecedented building boom in Ohio.
Across Ohio, $8 billion has been spent on renovation and construction since the
commission was established in 1997, said Rick Savors, OSFC spokesman.
More than $1 billion of that came to school districts in Montgomery County,
according to an analysis of OSFC data.
Savors said in May that 774 schools have opened statewide and 171 others are
under construction.
Dayton Public's project is the largest in the region.
"It's been a long journey," the district's chief construction officer John Carr
said. "It is an opportunity that will improve classroom instruction because of
all the technology they were able to bring to these new buildings."
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