COLORADO SPRINGS — On Tuesday, voters decided whether or not to pass a $350 million bond for School District 11 (D11), which would go toward school infrastructure projects.
The last time voters passed a bond in D11 was back in 2003.
Unofficial results as of 11:27 p.m.
| School District 11 4B Bond Issue | Votes | Percentage |
| Yes | 19,904 | 49.13% |
| No | 20,608 | 50.87% |
According to the ballot's language: "Without imposing any new tax, shall Colorado Springs School District No. 11 debt be increased $350 million."
News 5 spoke with Anthony Carlson from YES on 4, he said that the reason the district would be able to do this without raising taxes is because of "good financial management" over the years which allowed them to issue another bond.
"The district was able to pay down their previous bonds early, and next year it'll be one of the few school districts in Colorado that can say they're a debt-free district," said Carlson.
Carlson went on to say that he believed that the bond is necessary since the average age of most school buildings in D11 is 60 years old. He said that many of those schools weren't built for efficient digital connectivity and lack air conditioning.
"It costs money to keep older buildings going," said Carlson, "some of the parts, especially things like boilers, aren't even made anymore so the district has to spend more money just trying to find or even create those parts from scratch to keep the buildings going."
Carlson said that there are at least 16 schools that need significant repairs and improvements, and some may need to be completely rebuilt. Those schools are listed below:
Carlson also said that passing this bond means that every school will have air conditioning installed.
Another priority that the money would go toward is assisting D11 high schools with creating proper facilities for career and technical education classes such as health care or aerospace.
When asked how soon D11 schools could see repairs and improvements, Carlson said that if the 4B passes the districts plan to release RFP's for the first projects the day after election day.
Carlson said they estimate it would take about a decade for all of the repairs and renovations to unfold.
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