Hi neighbors — Last night, the Burlington School Board voted 12-2 to revised its school bond proposal and ask the City Council to approve a ballot item of just over $92 million for the November 4 election. You can read the specific language of the bond proposal in my post, “Our Schools, Our Future.”

Additional information about the District’s Master Plan and specific proposals for the each school in the District is available on the website BSDPlan.com (http://www.bsdplan.com/).

The revised bond proposal is intended to be Phase One of the District’s Vision for the Future of the Burlington Schools, and if approved, will pay for repairs and improvements at the following schools:

• Edmunds Middle School;
• Hunt Middle School;
• Edmunds Elementary School;
• Integrated Arts Academy at H.O. Wheeler Elementary School; and
• Sustainability Academy at Lawrence S. Barnes Elementary School.

Among the goals of the proposed work are improved safety and security, much greater accessibility (particularly in the Edmunds complex), significantly improved energy efficiency, enhanced equity and academic excellence, and expanded community use of the buildings.

Phase One of this project will enable each Burlington student to experience the benefits of updated facilities and innovative curriculum improvements. The Board remains committed to completing the remaining phases of the Master Plan, and will be aggressively pursuing various sources of funding that can help lower the overall project cost to Burlington taxpayers.

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. You can also submit feedback at the District website (http://www.bsdvt.org) or BSDPlan.

Fred Lane
Ward 5 School Commissioner
flane@bsdvt.org