Ephrata School District considering spring 2026 bond

EPHRATA — After more than a year and a half of work, the Ephrata School District’s District Facility Study Group has decided to recommend putting a $75 million bond package on the February 2026 ballot. The goal of the workgroup, said Ephrata School District Superintendent Ken Murray, was to ensure all of Ephrata’s students had quality learning spaces. “Primarily, people had an opportunity to see what we were able to accomplish with our 2019 bond and the facilities that are in place at one of our elementaries, and then, obviously, at Ephrata Middle School,” Murray said. “And one of the real goals, initially, was they saw how safe those facilities are. They saw how (those facilities incorporate) current trends in terms of the types of spaces that you could create for students.” Murray said the bond package, if approved, would have a tax bill impact but allow the district to remodel and expand Ephrata High School, replace Grant Elementary and Parkway Intermediate schools and provide a better Performing Arts Center for students. Some of the work had initially been approved by voters in 2019 along with funding, but inflation caused by the pandemic and other factors caused their cancelation and the funding was zeroed out through a process called defeasement.