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47% of respondents support a new high school in Jefferson City

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Forty-seven percent of respondents to a recent survey conducted by the Jefferson City School Board favor a plan to build a new high school in the city. The school board purchased a tract of land in the beginning of October to build a replacement campus for the city’s current high school.

Jefferson City voters will need to approve the proposal because it would cause a property tax increase. Joy Sweeney, president of the city’s Board of Education, explains how taxpayers would help fund the new campus.

“For the new property and facilities is between 70 and 80 million, which would cause an increase of approximately 55 cents on every $100 of assessed valuation," Sweeney said. "So, for about a $150,000 home, that’s an increase of about $157 a year.”

Sweeney says the earliest the bond and levy measure would appear on the ballot would be next April, by which point she hopes voters will support it. The board considered remodeling Jefferson City High School but for the same cost, it could build a completely new campus. The school board is in talks with Linn State Technical Collegeand Lincoln University to sell the existing campus.