by Anne Gibson
In most cases with a November election, the results are available that evening. This is not what happened with the Vail School District’s $61.3 million Proposition 468 in the general election on November 6th, 2018.
On Thursday, November 8th, two days after the midterm election, the Pima County Elections Department reported 11,006 or 52% votes cast in opposition to the Vail School District’s Proposition 468. The report included with only 10,609 or 48% voting in favor suggesting the sealing of the fate of the proposition. The hearts of supporters of the proposition were heavy with disbelief.
But wait, by Saturday, November 10th, some 2,000 additional ballots were counted, and the no votes shrunk to only 45 votes. Still a loss, but a mere glimmer of hope was felt. By Monday, November 12th with another group of ballots were counted and the yes votes overtook the no votes by 195 votes. As of Sunday, November 15th, the yes votes were leading by 483 votes with an estimated number of 1,000 to 1,500 provision ballots verified but not yet counted. Finally, on Saturday, November 17th at 9:02 AM, eleven days after the election, the Pima County Elections Department reported 13,200 yes votes or 50.93% to 12,717 no votes or 49.07% for a win. The reporting was marked Final Vote.
Plans for the first phase of Vail School District’s Mica Mountain High School will continue as planned, an additional K-8 school increasing 250 student capacity will be built, a very badly needed second Vail Inclusive Preschool will be constructed at the new high school, and a new pathway will be added at Andrada High School. In addition, there are numerous long over due repair projects.
The cost of the bond package to homeowners is estimated to be $6.20 per month for each $100,000 of home value in the Vail area. With every proposition there are winners and losers. There was no landslide with Proposition 468. The results were close. In the United States of American, where we are fortunate to live in a democracy, everyone gets to have an opinion and to vote.
(Left to Right) Vail School District Superintendent Calvin Baker thanks Citizens of Vail for Education (COVE) volunteers Travis Newton and Jean Peglow for their volunteer hours of work in support on Proposition 468.
