A school bond election is a bond issue used by a public school district to fund capital improvement projects, instructional materials and transportation needs. These measures are placed on the ballot by school boards to be considered by the voting public. School bonds require a supermajority of 60 percent of votes to pass.

The election is Tuesday, February 14, 2023. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Click here for voter registration, absentee voting information and more.

The bond proposal is for $353.9 million. Among the items in the proposal are a stand-alone facility for the Oklahoma Aviation Academy at Max Westheimer Airport, a new multi-sport athletic stadium at Norman North High School and updates to Harve Collins Stadium at Norman High School, and a new fine arts performance venue, tentatively to be built on the campus of Irving Middle School. A new transportation building for NPS, an animal barn for the district’s FFA program and the creation of multi-use spaces in district high schools for esports and other activities also are in the bond proposal. The bond proposal also includes elementary school classroom additions and maintenance, and upgrades for every district school site. Click here to view the bond resolution, which outlines the projects at each school site.

Projects identified in the school bond proposal were identified as a result of demographic studies, facility assessments and input from parents, teachers, staff and community stakeholders.

No, approval of the bond would not result in an increase to the targeted millage rate for Norman residents. NPS has completed the 2019 bond projects without reaching the targeted 30 millage rate, which remains the targeted rate for the 2023 school bond. In the last four years, the millage rate has averaged 27.32 due to variables such as property valuation growth in the community and lower interest rates.

Yes. If passed, every school site would benefit from improvement projects. Click here to view the projects listed by school.

Yes. Norman Public School District bond issues are steps in a long-term plan to maintain and enhance excellent educational opportunities. For example, the 2009 bond focused primarily on classroom technology, athletic facilities and the addition of a new elementary school. In 2014, the bond funded secure vestibules at every school, student technology, Freshman Academies and College and Career Centers. The 2019 bond was an investment in a secure future for all students, as additional safety and security projects were funded, Fine Arts facilities enhanced and a facility for students who thrive in alternative education built.

The 2023 bond would be an investment in inspiring opportunities for all students, with projects that include the construction of a new facility for the Oklahoma Aviation Academy, a new all-school performance venue, a new competition stadium at Norman North with upgrades to Harve Collins Stadium and more. In all cases, there are hundreds of additional projects that include upgrades such as new carpet, fresh paint, playground enhancements and more.

In addition to roof repairs, furniture upgrades and improvements to heating and cooling systems, several schools would receive additional classrooms. The bond would also allow the district to purchase textbooks, library media materials and instructional technology, while also allowing the district to maintain the iTech program with additional student devices.

Click here to view the bond resolution, which includes ballot language.

School bonds require a supermajority of 60 percent of votes to pass.

By law, school bonds and school transportation bonds must be listed separately on the ballot. Combined, the 2023 bond proposal calls for $353.9 million. Proposition 1 includes capital improvements, instructional materials and technology while Proposition 2 includes all transportation projects.

• Proposition 1: $349.8 million (capital improvements, instructional materials and technology)
• Proposition 2: $4.1 million (transportation only)

No. State law prohibits money generated by a bond proposal to be used for salaries or operational costs, such as those for utilities or fuel.

If you have ever had kids in school or were a public school student yourself, people before you helped to fund the schools you and/or your child(ren) attended. Similarly, current Norman residents help pay for the schools we have now and improve in the future throughout the time they live here. As new residents move into the district's attendance area, they assume these taxes as well. Regardless of where you live in Oklahoma, your property taxes will help fund schools in that area. School facilities are a hub of Norman and are often open to all residents for academic, fine arts programs, athletic events, community meetings and other events that bring the entire community together.

Also, an educated community is a thriving community. Great schools increase property values and safe schools help ensure safe neighborhoods. Young people are our future workforce, homeowners and taxpayers. Their education prepares them for that next step into adulthood, and the stronger their foundation the better their outcomes.

Esports are multiplayer video games played competitively for spectators. The popularity of esports among students at all levels is soaring, with popular games including Rocket League, League of Legends, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate and Overwatch, among others. Numerous universities, including several in Oklahoma, now are offering scholarships for  talented esports players.

As NPS does for its other competitive programs, it wants to provide a space in which its students can practice and succeed. Our esports programs are another avenue through which students can experience the benefits of being on a team and NPS wants to encourage that.

Not anymore. Starting in spring 2022, the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association began conducting state high school esports championships. Many Oklahoma universities now offer competitive esports programs with scholarships. Esports have become an avenue toward higher education for some students and according to the publication eMarketer, about one in seven Internet users in the U.S. will watch esports in 2023.

Plans are to have a space designed much like a movie theater, with large screens in the front of the room and several rows of seats at which students can sit and play. A control area would be in the back of the space. The rooms would be decorated in the colors of the school – orange for Norman High and green for Norman North.

Absolutely! Just as gymnasiums are used for more than basketball and volleyball and stadiums are used for more than football and track and field, these spaces will be used by more than just esports students. They can be used by any event that requires a large seminar space, so some possibilities could include faculty meetings, student organization meetings, guest speakers, etc.

NPS is working hard to build its FFA show team. The current school farm used by FFA students at Norman High School and Norman North High School is located in Goldsby and the three structures there date back to 2005. They have outlived their usefulness and are not adequate for housing show animals. For current and future students involved with FFA to receive the full benefit of the program, the farm facility needs to be updated.

NPS plans to build a new farm facility for current and future livestock exhibitors. The hope is to have one facility in which students could house animals, store tack and feed, wash animals and perhaps host livestock shows. The new facility would include better exterior lighting and a fence for security purposes.

While it’s true Norman now is Oklahoma’s third-largest city, both Norman High School and Norman North High School have students active in FFA. The groups at the two schools are combined into one chapter, under Norman High’s FFA charter, which dates back to 1935. Those students need a place to shelter their animals.

FFA is an intracurricular student organization for high school-aged students interested in agriculture and leadership. FFA (formerly known as Future Farmers of America) makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. Not only do FFA students study agriculture, but leadership, public speaking and personal-growth activities also are a critical part of the FFA program. A good number of NPS students who participate in FFA will go on to careers in agriculture-related fields.

The NPS FFA program – which is one chapter that encompasses both Norman High and Norman North – serves about 100 high school students. Pre-COVID, the program had as many as 130 students. The show team consists of about 10 FFA members and 10 4-H members. Kids who participate in 4-H often become FFA members as they grow older. Both FFA and 4-H would benefit from new NPS farm facilities. The Norman FFA bylaws state that while FFA members have priority in housing animals at the farm, 4-H members also can utilize the facility if there is room. Many NPS alumni return to support the NPS FFA program.

Yes. The Nancy O’Brian Center for the Performing Arts is located on the campus of Norman North High School. The center was designed as a unique performance facility to serve schools across the district. It has a 1,200-seat primary theater and a 200-seat studio theater. In addition to being the primary fine arts venue for NPS, it serves an additional mission as a performance and activity venue for the Norman community and the central Oklahoma region.

Simply put, the Nancy O’Brian Center’s schedule is jam-packed, so much so that it’s often difficult for NPS middle-school and elementary-school student groups – and sometimes even high school groups – to find room on the calendar to be able to use the facility. That means they often must perform in venues that are not specifically designed for fine arts or perform at odd times during the day.

No. Plans call for the new venue to be smaller and serve primarily middle-school and elementary-school groups. It could also serve as an alternative venue for high school groups. As NPS did with the Nancy O’Brian Center, it hopes to build a first-class facility that provides students with numerous amenities and a wonderful experience.

Students who might never have had the opportunity to perform at a facility designed specifically for the fine arts would be able to do so. NPS believes fine arts enhance academics and student growth and wants to encourage younger students to embrace that opportunity. Those watching the performances also would enjoy an enhanced viewing and listening experience.

As this facility will be used extensively by middle-school students, it’s important to NPS that it be located on one of the district’s four middle-school campuses. Irving is the one with the most available space for a project of this magnitude.

Yes, but it’s not nearly enough to meet the needs of a large district such as NPS. School bonds are how we pay for teaching materials such as textbooks, and how we maintain our technology and all the tools that make our classrooms quality learning environments for students. It’s also how NPS provides technology such as laptops for students to use at home.

Nearly $40 million of the proposed bond would be allocated for NPS to acquire software subscriptions, textbooks, devices, library media materials and other instructional materials across the district.

The acronym STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. We’re taking the more traditional “STEM” classroom focus and adding an arts component – visual arts, language arts, physical arts, music and more. According to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the idea is to spark the imagination and creativity of students through the arts and align that with existing STEM concepts that include innovation, critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration.

Our plan, should the bond be approved, is to either build or renovate a STEAM classroom at each of the 17 NPS elementary schools, where all five of the aspects of learning can be both utilized and emphasized. The goal is to give every student at every NPS school an opportunity to enjoy the STEAM learning space.

In addition to our current offerings and programs, these rooms will be available to teachers for special projects and equipped with curriculum and materials embedded with career connections. NPS is piloting a model to determine staffing needs going forward. Funds from this school bond (or any school bond), by law, cannot be used to hire or compensate our hard-working teachers.

During the past decade, the Putnam City and Edmond districts have built a combined five new on-campus stadiums and the Moore district is in the process of building two new on-campus stadiums. When those are completed, that will leave Norman North as one of very few Class 6A schools in the state to not have its own on-campus stadium. Norman North currently shares Harve Collins Stadium with Norman High School, where the facility is located. It’s inequitable for one of the district’s high schools to have a stadium and the other not.

While it’s true the new stadium would benefit the football team, numerous other student groups at North also would benefit. The track and field teams will join the football team in having their own “home” venue. Additionally, the Norman North band certainly would benefit. Students in the marching band currently have to load and unload a tractor-trailer full of equipment twice for every trip to perform at a game at Harve Collins Stadium, time-consuming chores that wouldn’t be necessary for an on-campus game. Cheer and pom squads also wouldn’t have to travel for “home” events. School spirit would be improved, as students who want to support their peers during an event will be able to do so on the same campus they share. Norman North would be able to host a fall homecoming ceremony during a game played on its own campus. Those are just some of the other ways a new stadium could benefit the school as a whole.

Elementary schools whose students eventually will attend Norman North also will benefit. Students at those schools will be able to participate in field days at the new stadium and to spend time on their future high school campus, helping to build school spirit among younger generations of future Timberwolves.

If the bond is approved, plans call for the Norman North stadium to be built on the existing
footprint of what now serves as the school’s practice field, which also is used for middle-school athletic events.

In short, it will be “Tigerized.” For years, Norman High has had to share space on its own campus with Norman North. Even the playing surface has been split, with one end zone in orange-and-black and the other in green-and-gray. Other markings around the stadium are generic. If Norman High once again is the sole resident of Harve Collins Stadium, the plan is to incorporate the NHS school colors and logo throughout the facility. NPS also wants to spruce up other areas of the stadium so that students at Norman High have a “new-to-them” feel for the stadium.

Athletic facilities, such as stadiums and gymnasiums, often are used for non-athletic activities including graduation ceremonies and concerts. NPS wants to ensure these types of venues and facilities are transformative for students. NPS want to provide space for kids to engage in the kinds of activities that get them excite and inspire them. With these investments, NPS will be competitive with all the other districts of our size and scope across the metro and the state.

The Oklahoma Aviation Academy, which opened in fall 2022, is a comprehensive STEAM academy themed around aviation and aerospace. OAA students engage in a STEAM-focused curriculum with an emphasis on aviation and aerospace. They have opportunities for ancillary hands-on career and industry experiences that will transform the traditional education environment to authentically connect student learning to high-tech industry readiness.

It’s one of only four such aviation-immersion academies anywhere in the U.S. The OAA program started with an inaugural freshman class in fall 2022. It provides exposure and connections with industry professionals. The vision is that students will have the ability to earn certifications through Moore Norman Technology Center in Airframe and Powerplant (maintenance/manufacturing) or at OAA in drone operation and even work toward earning a pilot's license. OAA students can still participate in extracurricular activities at Norman High School or Norman North High School.

Less than a year after the idea for the OAA was brought to NPS, there’s a freshman class of 80 students who spend half their day at Max Westheimer Airport. Oklahoma ranks near the bottom nationally in terms of STEAM education, while aviation is our state’s No. 2 industry. Those numbers aren’t sustainable in the long term unless we offer students opportunities in this field. OAA will provide a pathway for students to connect directly with higher education, career tech and industry partners in high-demand career areas including aviation and aeronautics. It will be a unique and innovative approach to education and a model for the type of opportunities that can be created for NPS students. OAA students now meet in borrowed classroom space at Max Westheimer Airport and NPS will use the bond funds to build a stand alone OAA facility at the airport.

NPS sees OAA as a transformational academy that provides students cutting-edge STEAM experiences, innovative industry connections and world-class academics with a backdrop of aviation and aerospace. The academy will be developed to provide learning experiences designed to foster deep thinking and cultivate the critical skills needed to thrive in the 21st century. There are plentiful, high-paying, quality jobs here in the state of Oklahoma ready and waiting for those qualified and there is so much more to the OAA than simply being a pilot. For every pilot in the air, there are roughly 10 other jobs associated with the industry.

The vision is to establish a transformational academy that will blend cutting-edge STEAM experiences, innovative industry connections and world-class academics against a backdrop of aviation and aerospace. Additionally, the plan is to develop a culture of excellence that promotes the intellectual, moral, civic and performance virtues. This will occur through the exposure to learning experiences designed to foster deep thinking and cultivate the critical skills needed to thrive in the 21st century. As students are empowered to take control of their personal journey toward a life of meaning and purpose, they will push toward the furthest boundaries of their potential.

In addition to the normal Norman Public Schools curriculum, the academy uses the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) curriculum for the aviation portion of the program.

OAA offers numerous pathways for students and is working to develop more. In addition to flight and pursuing a pilot or commercial drone operator license, students can choose pathways such as airframe and powerplant maintenance, air traffic control, computer science, engineering, cyber security, meteorology and more. Students will also have the opportunity to complete college credit through concurrent enrollment and potentially have priority enrollment at Moore Norman Technology Center and partner colleges within the University of Oklahoma.

Simply put, geography. Within a 500-mile radius, there are 88 million people. In Oklahoma, there are 135 public-use airports, including two international airports, and 95% of Oklahoma’s population lives within a 30-minute drive of a jet-capable airport. Oklahoma is centrally located between New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Toronto and Mexico City. Our state has four inland ports, including one of the largest, most inland, ice-free river ports in the U.S., and has three intersecting Interstate highways that offer access to every corner of the country.

Yes. Oklahoma is a national leader in the aviation industry. The region is home to more than 290 aerospace firms and there are more than 43,000 aerospace workers in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Aerospace firms produce $11.6 billion in goods and services locally. Aerospace companies that hire engineers in a variety of fields can receive a tax credit equal to 5-10% of the compensation paid to the engineer. Oklahoma has a critical demand for a highly skilled/trained workforce, yet ranks near the bottom in STEAM education. The OAA program will provide industry-connected education pathways for Oklahoma students to connect directly with higher education, career tech and industry partners, ensuring career readiness in the high-demand areas of aviation and aerospace.

The OAA started in the fall of 2022 in borrowed classroom space at OU’s Max Westheimer Airport, and OU – which has the nation’s No. 1 aviation school – is providing NPS with a long-term ground lease commitment for space at the airport to build a stand-alone facility. At the OAA, students can complete multiple semesters' worth of coursework in a wide variety of chosen fields, earning transferable credits to partner universities, colleges or technical schools. The academy's academic program is the ideal platform for entering the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering or the School of Aviation Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

The current freshman class at OAA includes just more than 80 students. There are also an additional 20 or so students who take advantage of a zero hour to engage in the aviation curriculum. If the bond is approved and a stand-alone facility is built, that would allow NPS to expand enrollment to potentially as many as 700 students. The vision is to continue growing OAA to ensure that any student who has the desire and the drive to participate in this program has the opportunity to do so.

Every school day, 75 NPS drivers and 75 monitors cover 162 bus routes that traverse the district’s 183.5 square miles throughout Norman and Goldsby. NPS Transportation Services complete around 2,000 field trips annually and its vehicles cover about 1,000,000 miles a year.

About 9,000 of the district’s 15,700 students are transported on NPS buses each school day to their classes at NPS facilities.

A good number of NPS students spend considerable time each school day on buses, and the district wants to help them make that time as productive and comfortable as possible. For example, 98% of our buses have air conditioning. Safety also is an important consideration and NPS works to keep its fleet up-to-date, with increased visibility for drivers, 360-degree areal video and black hoods on buses to reduce glare. NPS likes to think of Transportation Services as one of its schools, because the district’s transportation workers spend so much time with our students and provide such an essential function.

Should the bond be approved by voters, NPS plans to build a new 8,000-square-foot facility to replace the current building and to resurface the parking area. This would cost about $8.34 million.

The district’s transportation workers spend lots of time with kids and provide such an essential function. The NPS transportation department recently became the first from any school district in the nation to earn the honor of the Gold Standard Award from the Transportation Safety Administration. That signifies the completion of a years-long safety review process that will help keep students as safe as possible while on NPS buses. This bond provides NPS with an exciting opportunity to continue to invest in the great work they do.