GONZALES - As the Ascension Parish school district looks to an April election on a bond issue, it hopes voters will approve for construction of four new schools.

The school board has gone through cycles of new construction and renovation in recent years in an effort to meet population growth. The district gets between 400 to 600 new students each year.

In 2005, voters in Ascension Parish approved a $70 million bond issue to fund construction of five new elementary schools. A sixth one was also built with funds that came from surplus sales tax revenues.

The 20-year bond proposal on the April 9 ballot is for $120 million that will pay for three new elementary schools and a new middle school as well as planning for a new high school.