The Newfane Central School District’s proposed Capital Improvement Project 2026 was approved by voters on Friday.
The vote at Newfane Elementary School was delayed from Thursday as all schools were closed for a snow day.
Two ballot measures were decided by district voters: Proposition 1, which calls for miscellaneous infrastructure upgrades at all four school buildings; and Proposition 2, which calls for modernization of middle school classrooms and the high school technology wing.
Prop 1 passed by a vote of 192-76. The second proposition passed 150-113.
The projected cost of Proposition 1 is $18 million and the work would be fully financed with state building aid and district capital reserve funds.
The projected cost of Proposition 2 is $16.7 million. State building aid would cover 81.4% of the tab and the remainder would be picked up by district taxpayers. The projected dollars-and-cents impact is $30 per $100,000 of assessed value.
Proposition 2 mostly concerns the middle school, whose instructional spaces haven’t been updated since the building was opened in 1948, according to district officials. It was contingent upon passage of Proposition 1, meaning modernizing work would only occur if voters also authorized the maintenance work.
District Superintendent Jay Lupini has said the entire balance of an existing capital reserve fund, $1.88 million, was allocated for Proposition 1 work, so there was no reserve cash to apply toward Proposition 2 work.