Des Moines schools push $265M bond with transparency-focused panel
Des Moines school leaders are turning to an oversight committee for a $265 million bond referendum on next month's ballot to steady the district after the arrest of former Superintendent Ian Roberts, a move some residents say is warranted to restore confidence.
Dominique Forrest, who lives in Des Moines, said the scandal has shaken him.
“It definitely raises concern about what’s going on,” Forrest said, adding that an oversight panel makes sense given recent events.
Interim Superintendent Matt Smith emphasized that the district’s Reimagining Education plan is larger than any one person.
“It was actually built by a team and committee of 80 people,” Smith said, noting the work will continue despite the leadership change.
Smith said the plan’s goals remain intact: expanding access to full-day preschool, strengthening career and technical education, redesigning the middle school experience and developing signature school programs for immersive learning.
“This oversight committee actually is the community trust,” Smith said. “These are respected business leaders. They have expertise in finance and in auditing.”
Smith said he is confident voters will approve the $265 million Reimagining Education bond referendum and that the oversight committee will ensure funds are spent properly. The panel, he added, is designed to help the district regain public trust.
The committee’s charge includes transparency and accountability.
Its role is “to actually make sure that they’re reporting out both to the board and to the public that we are spending the dollars the way voters have actually asked us to spend the dollars,” Smith said.
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