Education Service Center Expansion

The Education Service Center expansion is funded through the 2005 Bond sale and is required to improve the building's life, safety and design by meeting city codes relative to emergency egress from the building. The cost of the project is $3, 640,319 and was approved in the 2005 referendum.

This project have been completed.

During the 1994-95 school year, a Citizens’ Bond Development Committee came up with a 20-year capital improvement plan for Tulsa Public Schools. Based upon an exhaustive study into the district’s 92 educational buildings, the committee identified the budget and funding schedules necessary to ensure the safety and structural integrity of TPS facilities.

• Replacement of Clinton Middle School, $16 million

• Renovations and repairs to Memorial High School, $7.9 million; Madison Middle School, $2.4 million; Monroe Middle School, $2.2 million; and the former Woods Elementary School to house the new KIPP Tulsa College Preparatory, $1.7 million.
• Construction of 11 middle school science labs, new science lab equipment and lab safety upgrades and training, $2.45 million.
• $1.7 million for a new kitchen, cafeteria and library and $1.1 million for renovations at Webster High School.
• $1.3 million each for classroom and library additions at McClure, McKinley and Owen elementary schools.
• New roofs at 17 schools and the Education Service Center and district warehouse, $11.3 million.
• New libraries at Whitney Middle and Zarrow International schools.
• $1 million for reading diagnostic equipment and reading programs for elementary schools.

During the 1994-95 school year, a Citizens’ Bond Development Committee came up with a 20-year capital improvement plan for Tulsa Public Schools. Based upon an exhaustive study into the district’s 92 educational buildings, the committee identified the budget and funding schedules necessary to ensure the safety and structural integrity of TPS facilities.

• $4.2 million Rogers High School field house
• $6.4 million for new Eugene Field Elementary School
• $25.76 million for textbooks and technology
• $8 million for library books, learning materials and building additions
• $1.5 million to demolish the existing Washington High School facility
• $5.4 million for new buses and maintenance
• $3.2 million for classroom computers
• $1 million for musical instruments
• $1 million for music and art classroom additions
• 8 new classrooms at Cooper Elementary School
• Renovations

  Hale

  Edison (Middle and High)

  Carver

  Gilcrease

  Cherokee

  Marshall

  Sequoyah

  Skelly

  Springdale

  Whitman

  Wright

• 31 schools – new roofs and air conditioning systems
• 11 schools – improved library media centers

During the 1994-95 school year, a Citizens’ Bond Development Committee came up with a 20-year capital improvement plan for Tulsa Public Schools. Based upon an exhaustive study into the district’s 92 educational buildings, the committee identified the budget and funding schedules necessary to ensure the safety and structural integrity of TPS facilities.

• $111 per for classroom computers

  Ratio increased from one computer per classroom to one computer for every five students

• $25 million to replace Booker T. Washington High School

• $4.5 million to rebuild Mark Twain Elementary School
• $1.08 million for Memorial High School renovations
• $2 million for middle school reading intervention programs
• $2.73 million Foster Middle School renovation

  $500,000 air conditioning

  $150,000 elevator (per Americans with Disabilities Act)

• $660,000 Lewis and Clark Middle School

  Heating and air conditioning

  Plumbing

  Auditorium repair

• $760,000 for high school musical instruments and art equipment
• East Central High School

  $164,000 auditorium remodel

  Gymnasium upgrade (including air conditioning unit)

  East Central Sports Complex

• 17 schools received new foreign language labs, including software and materials
• New science labs district-wide

During the 1994-95 school year, a Citizens’ Bond Development Committee came up with a 20-year capital improvement plan for Tulsa Public Schools. Based upon an exhaustive study into the district’s 92 educational buildings, the committee identified the budget and funding schedules necessary to ensure the safety and structural integrity of TPS facilities.

• $54.5 million for school building improvements
• $10 million for library additions and materials
• $25 million for classroom materials and equipment
• $5 million for buses.

What is a school bond?
A school bond, sometimes called a municipal bond, is a document that obligates the school district to repay borrowed money on a given maturity date and to pay interest semiannually at a rate set at the date of sale to the bondholder.

What are bonds used for?
Bond funds can be used to pay for new buildings, additions and renovations to existing facilities, purchasing land, and equipment for new or existing buildings.

Bond funds cannot be used for personnel or operating costs. By law, bond money can only be used for new facility construction, facility renovation, technology, buses and major capital improvements.

Why is passage of bond propositions important to TPS?
The district's general fund is for salaries, utilities and other recurring operation expenses. It is by issuing bonds that TPS is able to pay for capital expenditures such as textbooks, instructional technology, equipment and construction. That is why you see those items on bond propositions. Without bond propositions the district would have to tap into its general fund to pay for the facilities and instructional tools our children need, leaving little money to hire teachers or conduct daily operations.

Briefly tell me about the history of TPS' bond(s)?
During the 1994-95 school year, a Citizens’ Bond Development Committee came up with a 20-year capital improvement plan for Tulsa Public Schools. Based upon an exhaustive study into the district’s 92 educational buildings, the committee identified the budget and funding schedules necessary to ensure the safety and structural integrity of TPS facilities.

The average age of TPS’s school buildings is 51 years, with 95 percent of the structures being 31 years or older. The 20-year plan has helped to address the following major areas of concern:

• Restoration of the building envelope – Roofing, window and door replacement, cleaning and waterproofing building exteriors.
• Indoor air quality improvement – Principally related to ventilation systems at each site.
• Code compliance – Unfunded conditions identified by the state fire marshal and other code official with regard to elevators, fire alarm systems, auditorium state fire curtains and fire sprinkler systems.

Since 1995, voters have approved four bond packages that helped to fund $400 million in capital improvements:

• 84 new roofs
• New heating and air conditioning at 74 facilities