On the heels of the recent announcement USD 253 Emporia Public Schools would be delaying their $78 million bond election, Superintendent Kevin Case is looking forward with the start of a new school year.
As KVOE has reported recently, a “technical error” discovered Wednesday morning led to district administration and the Board of Education delaying the mail-in election — meant to take place on Sept. 5 — to the Nov. 5 general election ballot. An online article by the Emporia Gazette on Thursday stated a legal publication error by the Gazzette led to the legal notice not being fully published during a two-week run in the paper and therefore the notice did not run “in its entirety.”
Case says the bond election had to be published for “21 clear days” before the election. He says they were able to get the election published online, however, after reviewing statutes regarding the publication they learned it needed to be in print for the 21 days.
Case says they had it published in both print and online, however, not for the correct amount of time. Case says the delay is regrettable, however, it is not causing the district to lose focus on the election or the new school year.
Lyon County Clerk Tammy Vopat recently spoke with KVOE News and says the district had requested a cost estimate before moving ahead with the mail-in election.
According to Vopat, the estimate came in at $40,000 to be incurred by the school district. She says the current estimate for printing, postage, labor and other costs to be incurred by the district is a bit lower than the original estimate at around $37,000.
When asked if insurance could possibly cover this cost, Case says:
The district’s bond election now becomes part of the overall ballot in November. Vopat says this will be a traditional “polling place” election, meaning there will be no special mail-in procedures just for the USD 253 bond question.
As far as upcoming dates of note:
*Oct. 15: Voter registration ends
*Oct. 16: Advance vote ballots mailed
*Oct. 19: Special off-site election, Flinthills Mall
*Oct. 21: Advance voting begins at Lyon County Courthouse
*Nov. 4, noon: Advance voting ends
*Nov. 5: General election
More information about the bond is online at www.usd253.org. More information about the upcoming general election is online at www.lyoncounty.org.
