Two questions. One bond. About $4.16 a month on a $200,000 home if both pass. Here’s what’s actually on the page, and where every number comes from.
The whole bond, on one screen
What it costs you
Two numbers will be on your ballot. $615 million is the bond’s total. About $4.16 a month is the share that lands on a $200,000 home if both questions pass — the district’s own estimate.
We won’t pretend that’s nothing. Fifty dollars a year is a real decision in a lot of Wichita households, and we respect that.
What we’ll show you is exactly what the money builds, where every dollar lands, and the fact that the same community that built the schools we learned in made the same choice. That’s the case. You make the call.
Question 2 monthly impact
This shows ONLY the Question 2 addition to your property tax. Q2 is paid over 20 years. Question 1 doesn’t change your rate — it continues the school levy you already pay.
In plain English: Kansas only taxes part of your home’s value — 11.5% of it, called the assessed value. One “mill” is $1 of tax per $1,000 of that assessed value. Question 2 adds about 2.17 mills, which we backed out from the district’s anchor ($4.16 per month on a $200,000 home). The bond is repaid over 20 years.
USD 259 bond levies aren’t covered by the statewide $42K residential homestead exemption (K.S.A. 79-201x), so this math holds at every home value.
Source: USD 259 Bond 2026 site. Q1 alone: no rate change. Q2 alone: cannot pass on its own (see below). Both pass: Q1 stays the same, Q2 adds the small monthly amount shown here.
The key thing to know
If Question 1 fails, Question 2 is automatically denied — no matter how it's voted.
That’s the rule USD 259 wrote into the ballot. Q1 can pass on its own; Q2 cannot. To unlock the full $615M bond — every project on both lists — both questions have to pass.
What happens with your vote
Question 1, in detail
The bond’s larger half. District-wide infrastructure, safety upgrades, school rebuilds, and the new Trades FutureReady Center. Funded by continuing the existing school mill levy. A vote of YES keeps your tax rate exactly where it is today.
| Project | Amount |
|---|---|
| Truesdell Middle School (rebuild) | $103.9M |
| Chisholm Trail Elementary (K–8 rebuild) | $81.3M |
| Cessna Elementary (add middle-school wing, K–8) | $45.3M |
| Black Elementary (rebuild) | $44.2M |
| McLean Elementary (rebuild) | $44.2M |
| Trades FutureReady Center (new) | $28.2M |
| North High School preservation | $20M |
| East High School preservation | $20M |
| HVAC in PE + other learning spaces | $15M |
| Traffic flow improvements (select schools) | $5M |
| Subtotal | $407.1M |
Source: USD 259 Bond 2026 site (wpsbond.usd259.org)
Question 2, in detail
The bond’s strategic half. Career-and-technical education at four high schools, two more rebuilds, an early childhood center, and a campus realignment. Funded by a small mill-levy increase — about $50/year ($4.16/month) on a $200,000 home.
| Project | Amount |
|---|---|
| Coleman Middle School (rebuild) | $106M |
| Adams Elementary School (rebuild) | $42M |
| Heights HS — CTE spaces + secondary auditorium | $11.3M |
| Horace Mann → Hadley + Irving → Horace Mann (campus realignment) | $11M |
| West HS — CTE spaces + parking | $9.2M |
| OK Elementary → Early Childhood Center (renovation) | $9M |
| South HS — CTE spaces | $8.4M |
| Northwest HS — CTE spaces | $7M |
| Preservation at four 50–70-year-old high schools | $4M |
| Subtotal | $207.9M |
Source: USD 259 Bond 2026 site (wpsbond.usd259.org)
Why us, why now
Wichita has been here before. The buildings that taught the last generation didn’t show up by themselves — they were paid for by neighbors who voted yes. They now stand as the schools we send our kids to today.
This is the same vote, in a different year.
Verify every number
Every dollar, project, and percentage on this page links back to a USD 259 source. If you’re checking our math (please do), here’s where we got it.
Common questions
Here’s exactly what USD 259 publishes on the bond site, for a $200,000 home:
Question 1, if it passes: “the current property tax rate would not change.”
Question 2, if it passes: “the current property tax rate would increase and result in approximately $50 a year additional taxes on a $200,000 home compared to what is being paid today.”
If the bond does not pass: “the property tax rate will decrease beginning on the 2028 tax bill. This would have the impact of decreasing taxes by approximately $125 a year for an owner of a $200,000 home based upon what is being paid today.”
In monthly terms, voting YES on both is about $4.16/month more ($50/year); voting NO on both is about $10.42/month less ($125/year less).
What that monthly difference funds, from the district’s published project list: the new Trades FutureReady Center for career training; rebuilds of Coleman Middle School, Truesdell Middle School, Adams Elementary, Black Elementary, and McLean Elementary; career-and-technical-education space additions at South, Northwest, West, and Heights High Schools; HVAC upgrades in classrooms and PE spaces; and preservation work at North and East High. USD 259 publishes that the average WPS building is 60 years old.
The bond site doesn’t address renters directly, so this answer is the campaign’s analysis — not a district FAQ.
Renters don’t pay property tax directly. That’s the simple answer.
The honest one: property tax is part of a landlord’s operating cost, and landlords can choose to pass increases through as higher rent. For Q2 specifically — about $4.16/month on a $200,000 rental — that’s a small line item, and in practice rental markets rarely react to single tax changes that small. But it’s not zero.
The bigger reason renters should care: the schools your neighbors’ kids attend are part of the city you live in, work in, and depend on. Wichita is one place.
USD 259’s answer, from the bond site: “Most building closures are about current and projected enrollment, teacher and staff vacancies, ability to provide resources across all buildings in the district, and conditions of facilities and its systems.”
In other words, the bond is paired with closures and consolidations where enrollment supports it (the Horace Mann → Hadley + Irving → Horace Mann shuffle is an example). The rebuilds on the list are buildings the district has identified as past end-of-life — the average age of WPS buildings is 60 years.
USD 259’s answer, verbatim: “Projects were selected using facilities data, enrollment projections and community and staff feedback. The projects selected represent a combination of facility needs and community support.”
The full plan was developed over the course of the district’s 2025–26 bond planning process. The board’s facility data is the primary source we cite in the Sources section above.
USD 259’s published answer: “The expected repayment period for this bond issue will be 20 years.”
So the Q2 mill-levy increase that funds the additional $207.9M of projects is on a 20-year repayment schedule.
Per USD 259, two things happen on the tax bill:
Property taxes decrease. District publishes: “the property tax rate will decrease beginning on the 2028 tax bill. This would have the impact of decreasing taxes by approximately $125 a year for an owner of a $200,000 home based upon what is being paid today.”
The facility costs don’t decrease — they shift accounts. District publishes: “The district’s facility needs don’t go away if the bond does not pass. WPS will have to continue – and significantly accelerate – our efficiency efforts.”
What that means as math:
The bill comes from a different account. Bonds are paid by a long-term levy at a low rate. “Efficiency efforts” come out of the operating budget — the account that also pays teachers, buys textbooks, and keeps the lights on. The bond replaces; the operating budget patches. Deferred maintenance is the most expensive way to maintain a building.
The bond gets more expensive to bring back. Construction prices go up, not down. The Coleman, Truesdell, Adams, Black, and McLean rebuilds — and the Trades FutureReady Center, CTE space, and HVAC work — are priced today. Whatever the district brings back to voters in 4 or 8 years will be priced then.
The trades pipeline waits. The Trades FutureReady Center and the career-and-technical-education expansions at South, Northwest, West, and Heights High Schools are how students prepare for skilled-trades and technical careers. Local employers depend on that pipeline.
Teacher recruitment gets more expensive. USD 259 publishes that facility conditions factor into ongoing “teacher and staff vacancies.” Replacing a teacher comes out of the operating budget too.
USD 259 publishes that the average WPS building is 60 years old. Same buildings a generation ago. What’s changed is the cost of running them — and the kind of work students need to be ready for.
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