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Johnson County, Kan. votes, approves $265M bond for Shawnee Mission School District

Resident turnout of only 28 percent approved a bond issue on Tuesday providing the Shawnee Mission School District millions in upgrades. The new measure will increase property taxes for those within the district which will fund school and facility upgrades as well as new hires.

Shawnee Mission School District will be able to fund more than $200 million in upgrades after nearly 70% of Johnson County residents who voted on Tuesday approved a bond issue.

Through the $264 million bond, SMSD plans to rebuild five elementary schools – John Diemer and Westwood View in 2021, Pawnee in 2022 and Rushton and Tomahawk in 2023. Several middle and high school facilities, as well as the SMSD Early Childhood Education Center and Career and Technical Campus, will receive “learning-space upgrades,” according to the district.

More than a dozen playgrounds also are planned over the course of five years. Other updates include updating and replacing HVAC equipment, repairing and replacing asphalt and roofs districtwide.

The bond issue received 43,441 ‘yes’ votes, or 69.41%, and 15,178 ‘no’ votes, or 30.59%. There were five overvotes and 38 undervotes.

Of the 180,319 registered Johnson County voters in the district’s boundary, 49,662 cast mail-in ballots on the issue. Nearly 40 of those ballots were blank. Overall voter turnout was nearly 28%.