Schools in Gavin Elementary District 37 will receive a host of life-safety repairs as voters backed a referendum proposal to fund the projects.
Unofficial totals showed 1,598 "yes" votes, or 61 percent, to 1,026 "no" votes, or 39 percent, to support the measure.
District 37 in Ingleside was seeking voter approval to sell $6 million in building bonds to fund life-safety repairs and improvements at Gavin South Middle School on Route 134 and Gavin Central Elementary School on North Ridge Road over 20 years.
The work would included repairing or replacing aging roofs, asphalt parking lots, a boiler, chillers, improving science labs and extending air conditioning. Adding more secure building entrances at both schools is also on the project list. District officials said the items to be replaced or repaired are at the end of their useful lives. For example, officials said the Gavin Central roof is 20 years old and starting to leak and the 40-year-old backup boiler at Gavin South doesn't work.
The vote signals a change of heart after voters rejected a spring ballot proposal to borrow the money by establishing a "debt service extension base" of $500,000, starting in 2018 and running for "all subsequent levy years."