SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - In 2018, voters in Sangamon County approved a 1% tax increase for schools. That funding has helped District 186 complete renovations or reconstructions of several of their schools. The most recent is Owen Marsh Elementary. 

Construction has started on the new building, which will be built next to the current location. Once the new building is completed, the old school will be demolished. Principal Wendy Conaway says the new building is desperately needed. 

"We will have a separate full size gym and cafeteria which will allow us to maximize our master schedule and allow us to have the space we really need," said Conaway. "There will also be a STEM lab. so learning about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics." 

Conaway also said the school's music room is currently in a mobile unit outside the school, so the new building will include the music room and an improved art facility. 

As part of the project, students at the school researched who Owen Marsh was and the history of their school buildings. Members of the student council presented the project to board members at a groundbreaking ceremony. 

State Senator Doris Turner also attended the groundbreaking and said school improvements are the key to improving local neighborhoods. They help spark economic development and bring new families into the area. 

"I believe if we do education right, out communities look a whole lot better," said Turner. "When we have a strong, fiscally sound, expansive, and diverse educational system, that makes out community better. So the investment in education is not just for those students that are going to walk through those doors, they are for our community as a whole." 

Construction is supposed to be completed by the fall of 2026. 

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