As of February 11, 2025, Arlington School District witnessed another failed election to rebuild Post Middle School. Taxpayers have rejected the election to replace the 43-year-old school for the 7th time since 2018, complaining of the cost of the new building. The district board members continue to work toward a solution.
This levy, similar to past elections, focused on lowering the cost from $81 million to $70 million for property owners by minimizing square footage of the building. Previous elections held required annual tax for a 20 year period, more specifically a bond.
“We shortened it, making the annual tax more expensive, but then at the end of the six years it’s paid off,” Gary Sabol, Director of Communications for the school district, said. “A levy is also interest-free unlike a bond.”
The election was modified from previous attempts, yet results showed a lower percentage of the community in favor of the additional taxes.
“For a capital levy, the requirement is 50% plus one, last I checked it was 44%,” Sabol said. “Before November of 2024, we ran this as a bond, which is a 60% supermajority and we got anywhere from 52% to 57% approval.”
Although the cost was lowered, and the voting requirements changed, the school still found themselves at another lost election, pushing out the timeline of a new school. This was concerning due to the upkeep cost being the highest in the district.
”I believe there’s a lot of people out there who don’t understand how school funding and finance works. If you get people who educate themselves a little more and have a better idea, they might understand why this was so important,” Britt Kleinman, Chair of the Citizens Committee, said.
Between misunderstandings and uneducated individuals, the information shared is not trusted by everyone in the community.
“I think there’s a lot of misconceptions out there and a lot of misinformation being spread, whether it’s accidentally or on purpose,” said Jason Klein, president of the teachers union.
Plans for the school, still undecided, are being discussed, while district leaders continue to think of a plan, administrators and directors in the district share possible outcomes.
“It’s possible double shifting at Haller, another is putting a whole bunch of portables on the Post site if parts of the building are unable to be occupied, or sixth graders going back to the elementary schools and doing a seven, eight, nine split,” Sabol said.
The staff and administrators in the district want to ensure each student’s well being, and ensure decisions will benefit not only the current students, but also the ones to come.
“At this point, district leadership is going back to the drawing board to talk about next steps and contingency plans. As far as I know there are no plans to run another ballot measure in the near future,” Kleinman said.
District leadership is focusing on taking a step back to analyze the situation and find the best fit solution for the students. Unless something occurs on the campus, Post will continue to occupy the 650 students daily, or until a new plan is formed.
“Thank you to the community members that helped make the campaign possible. It takes a lot of hands to run a campaign, I hope that we can work together as a community to hopefully pass whatever comes next,” Kleinman said.
