This story by Liz Sauchelli was first published by the Valley News on May 21.
SOUTH ROYALTON — For the third time in seven months, Bethel and Royalton voters rejected a $3.8 million bond to renovate the White River Unified School District’s middle and high schools.
The result was 540 to 446, according to results provided by Karmen Bascom, the Royalton town clerk who also serves as clerk for the White River Unified School District. Turnout on Tuesday was higher than it was for the same ballot measure in March, with about 27% of the district’s 3,658 voters participating.
Tuesday’s rejection follows failed results for the bond at Town Meeting in March and in November.
“It really is painful that this is the way it ended up,” said Nancy Pejouhy, chair of the White River Unified School District school board. “To have the vote be such a large margin was surprising, considering we were so close on the other two votes.”
This week’s vote came after residents petitioned for a vote for reconsideration, so the measure had to be the same as the proposal put forward in March.
The margin the renovation proposal has lost by has increased with each vote.
In November, the bond failed by just 10 votes — 753-743.
On Town Meeting Day, it failed by 20 votes, 435-415.
The largest part of the $6.2 million project called for building a performing arts center at the high school, at a cost of about $3.17 million.
Other elements included expanding the White River Valley High School’s wood shop and welding areas in South Royalton, as well as installing secure entrances at the middle school in Bethel and at the high school.
In addition to the bond, the project would have been funded by capital reserve funds and donations, including $500,000 from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation.
The school district had until the end of 2025 to use that donation, White River Valley Supervisory Union Superintendent Jamie Kinnarney said.
“Certainly at this point, I think our constituents have indicated that they’re not in a position to approve a bond that’s going to result in any kind of tax increase,” he said Wednesday.
Still, he noted that he expected that tuition from outside the district would have more than offset the cost of the bond.
The average value of a home in the White River Unified District is just shy of $200,000, and the bond would have raised property taxes less than $50 per year, according to information provided by the school district. That amounts to roughly $1 per week, Pejouhy said, questioning why that would have felt unaffordable to residents.
“You can’t even buy a pack of gum for a dollar anymore,” she said.
The board decided in April to move forward with a state-mandated stormwater mitigation project near White River Valley High School’s gym. The cost of about $300,000 is expected to come from the district’s capital reserve fund. While the project was included in the bond proposal, the school board decided to do the work whether or not the bond passed.
Plans are being drawn up for the work that needs to be done. The project will take place either in fall 2025 or spring 2026, Kinnarney said. The future of any other school building improvements are unclear.
“We have not as a board discussed what we’re going to do beyond that,” Pejouhy said.
