Voter turnout was low, but in a referendum Tuesday Fauquier County residents approved borrowing as much as $39.6 million to finance the construction of the county's third high school.
Schools Superintendent J. David Martin, who was barred by law from taking a stand on the spending plan, said afterward that he was happy with the outcome. The measure passed by a vote of 4,144 to 2,940.
"We know that class size makes a difference," Martin said. "This will ensure that we'll be able to provide the additional seats."
The 1,200-student school is scheduled to open in New Baltimore in 2007 to relieve crowding at Fauquier and Liberty high schools. Fauquier High School, which was opened in 1963 to accommodate no more than 1,487 students, has 1,721. Liberty, opened 11 years ago, has 1,654 students -- 200 over its designed capacity.
Passage of the measure follows more than two years of study and debate that has divided the community.
Martin had warned that without a new school, the system would have to use more trailers or educate students in two shifts a day.
Don Rose, a member of the Fauquier Alliance for Better Schools, a registered state political action committee, spent several days campaigning at Wal-Mart with a sandwich board.
"I'm tickled to death," he said of the 58 percent approval. "It's a mandate. . . . Almost every district, we won or tied."
Nancy Griffin-Bonnaire, another member of the group, said she was disappointed by the 18 percent voter turnout.
"With all the effort to get the attention of Fauquier residents, the turnout was appalling," she said. "Without patting ourselves on the back, frankly it would have failed [otherwise]."
Opponents had argued that the school's design was extravagant and costly and that building the school on the 75-acre site preferred by the School Board would cause too much traffic on Route 605, which they described as a hilly and dangerous road.
The design for the school includes athletic fields, a television production studio and a greenhouse. Martin said the facilities are similar to those that exist or will be added soon to the other high schools. He said the estimated $50 million construction cost was in line with the cost of new high schools across the state. The remaining $11 million for construction will be paid in cash from other sources.
Critics say they fear property taxes will rise significantly to operate the new building and to pay off the debt from its construction, much like the four-cent increase in property taxes that followed the opening of Liberty in 1994.
"I just wish the School Board would stop spending our tax dollars like it was their own money," said Linda Lawler, one of the founders of Fauquier Citizens for Prudent Spending.
