Franklin School District taking facility plan to referendum

The Franklin School Board voted, 5-2, last night to move forward with a plan to improve facilities at Franklin High School and Forest Park Middle School.

This plan will direct attention to the top three priorities indicated from the Franklin community survey results:

These are to:

Increase academic capacity at the high school by expanding general classrooms and science areas, and also creating a secure main entry and addressing the parking situation. This project is estimated to cost $21.4 million.

Expand the art and music classroom areas and add an auditorium for school and community use, which would cost about $11.6 million.

Address space needs at the middle school, which includes renovating the gym into new classroom and special education areas, expanding the cafeteria, replacing the gym and improving traffic flow, parking and site safety. This work would cost about $15 million.

The board is working on setting up a communications plan for the project and preparing a legal question for a fall referendum on the proposal.

"We are excited the community gets the opportunity to vote on this topic," said Megan Dade, communications coordinator for Franklin Public Schools.