9-7-04 - The Ardmore School District has an answer to overcrowding at their elementary classes – an advance on a city sales tax set aside for local districts.

District officials are presenting the Ardmore City Commission with a proposal Tuesday night to issue bond money that would provide $7 million for the district to make repairs and consolidate schools in the elementary system.

Last November, city voters approved a one-cent sales tax; half the money was set aside for local schools with the money to be doled out over the next decade.

But superintendent Dr. Ruth Ann Carr says the district can’t afford to wait that long. Already, students have had to switch schools because classes are too full in some locations. The money would be put to making necessary repairs to add classrooms to Charles Evans Elementary.

If the council approves a revenue bond in two weeks, it would act like a loan. The city will actually own the elementary schools until the district pays the money back.