(Marion) — The third time really was the charm for the Marion ISD. Voters on Saturday gave their approval to Marion’s $78.8 million bond package. Similar bond packages failed in May and November of last year. But this time around, the district was finally able to gain the support of its voters. There was 777 votes in favor of the Marion ISD bonds, and 416 votes against it this year.
Marion ISD Superintendent Don Beck says they have worked hard to educate voters. He says they wanted to make sure that they truly understood what was being proposed in this package.
“The first thing I want to say, is I want to thank everybody for voting. We almost had double the amount of votes we’ve ever had in an election, and so the communication I mentioned to you back in November that I said communication was the key. I failed to communicate to people back in the fall, so ultimately that was our number one goal was to make sure when they went to the polls, they knew what they were voting for –– and thank them for trusting me and trusting the district and trusting our school board to move forward with the largest bond referendum, I believe we’ve ever had at $78.8 million. We’re ready to be good stewards of those funds and create something they’ll be proud of,” said Beck.
Dr. Beck says they want to thank the voters for giving what they need to keep their campuses safe, to grow their CTE programs and to build a much needed competition gym at the high school.
“You know just the results and what it’s going to be able to do for our students and our staff. We are just excited about the opportunities that are about to happen,” said Beck.
Beck says the next step now is to go to the planning table and begin the design phase for these future projects.