For the third time in five years, the Franklin West Supervisory Union is asking Fairfax voters to fund major renovations at the district’s largest school.
Voters in 2017 and 2019 turned down bonds that would have paid for new facilities and long-deferred maintenance at Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax, an aging pre-K through 12th-grade campus that currently serves about 970 students from the local area.
School officials said they have a new but nonetheless difficult pitch to voters this year. They’ve reduced the scope of the bond to include only the most essential projects, such as new classrooms. At the same time, officials said that higher costs of labor and materials in 2022 make this year’s bond request the steepest one yet: up to $36.4 million.
“It’s a big ask,” said John Tague, the Franklin West Supervisory Union superintendent. “Taxes are going to go up, but it’s a tax that’s going to go up to benefit kids.”
A major challenge facing Bellows Free Academy, Tague said, is that the school does not have enough space to accommodate recent growth in its enrollment. The town of Fairfax’s population gains from 2010 to 2020 were among the highest in the state, according to U.S. Census data. At Bellows Free Academy, Tague said, the greatest impact of that growth has been an increase in elementary-age students.
The school has about 14% more students in pre-K through fourth grade this year than it did five years ago, according to enrollment data shared by the district. Across all grades, the school has about 70 more students today than it did five years ago.
As a result, school officials said, they’ve had to move two third- and fourth-grade classes into rooms in the high school wing, and consolidate the pre-K program into a single classroom, limiting the number of slots the school can offer the community.
This year’s bond proposal would add five classrooms to the elementary wing, two of them for pre-K students and three of them for third- and fourth-graders. Four new classrooms would also be added for middle and high schoolers.
“It’s really unique to be able to have a pre-K through 12 building, and it requires a lot of give and take,” said Thomas Walsh, the elementary school principal at Bellows Free Academy. “But we also want to make sure that the three levels — the elementary, the middle, and the high school — have their own, developmentally appropriate worlds.”
The bond also includes renovated spaces for science, band and chorus classes; an enlarged cafeteria; new storage space for co-curricular activities; and new safety measures, such as a fire sprinkler system, upgraded elevators and a more secure entrance for middle and high school students.
Notably, this year’s bond does not include some of the big-ticket items that were part of previous year’s proposals, such as an auditorium or a new gymnasium.
The 2019 proposal was split into three articles that totaled about $26.5 million; all were defeated with between 52% and 57% of voters ticking “no.” Two years earlier, about 71% of voters turned down a single article for up to $16 million of renovations.
District officials said sticker shock was likely an issue in previous bond votes. Matthew Hogan, a member of the Franklin West Supervisory Union’s board, said he believes having three articles on the ballot in 2019 confused voters, too.
The district estimates that this year’s 30-year bond, if passed, would add $389 to the annual tax bill on a $200,000 home.
Hogan said the board is “not naive” to the fact people have been paying more for costs such as gas and groceries this year. But he maintained that board members believe the community cannot afford to continue putting off necessary upgrades.
“Fairfax doesn’t have a huge employer. The school makes or breaks this town,” Hogan said. “It’s what draws families here. It’s what keeps families here.”
In-person voting will take place at the middle school gym on Election Day, which is Nov. 8.
