$51M bond on the ballot for Southeast Polk Community School District
Voters in the Southeast Polk School District will decide next Tuesday whether to approve a $51 million bond referendum.
Voters in the Southeast Polk School District will decide next Tuesday whether to approve a $51 million bond referendum.
Voters in the Southeast Polk School District will decide next Tuesday whether to approve a $51 million bond referendum.
Voters in the Southeast Polk School District will decide next Tuesday whether to approve a $51 million bond referendum.
Superintendent Dirk Halupnik said the district continues to see steady enrollment growth and that the bond referendum plan was drafted to meet the needs that growth brings.
“Our enrollment has increased 7% over the last five years, and our projections are to increase another 400 students in the next four years,” he said.
“With that growth, we remain committed to providing safe and modern learning spaces that meet the needs of our kids and our community,” Halupnik said. “We’re really proud that families choose Southeast Polk. And this plan will allow us to keep our school strong for both today’s students and tomorrow’s.”
The proposed bond would fund three main projects: a new elementary school, playground upgrades at all eight of the district’s elementary schools, and renovations to the junior high building.
“The elementary building, a new building, would allow us to address that enrollment growth, keep our class sizes small, maintain our concept of neighborhood schools, which our community is very fond of, and also provide space across the district for additional preschool and transition kindergarten space,” Halupnik said.
He said the playground upgrades would ensure all equipment is accessible and safe.
“We know that promotes healthy play and creativity, and it also serves our community outside of school hours as well," he said.
The junior high renovations would relocate the main office to the front entrance for safety and expand the commons area. He said the main office is "currently located right in the middle of the building, which is not the best practice."
He said relocating the main office will create more space in the center of the building.
“That will allow us to expand our commons area, which we’ve just simply outgrown. If you would go over there and see lunch today, we have lunch tables going down the hallway," he said.
Watch: Nov. 4 election brings 55 bond proposals across Iowa. Voters have seen 18 of them before.
Halupnik said the district currently averages about 100 new students per year and has run out of classroom space.
“Our current elementary average class size is 22, something we’re very proud of,” he said. “But we are out of classroom spaces across the district.”
He said the district’s school board identified the projects through its annual facility planning process.
“Each year our school board puts together a district-wide master facilities plan,” Halupnik said. “These were up at the top of that list and not inexpensive items. Looking at our finances, the board decided that now is the time to look at a referendum to address, particularly, the elementary building and then move forward with that.”
If approved, the playground projects would be completed in summer 2026. The junior high work would take place mostly in 2026 and possibly into 2027. Construction on the new elementary school could begin immediately and open in the 2028–29 school year.
Halupnik said the district will work with a demographer to decide where to build the new elementary school.
“We’ll work with our demographer to determine the optimal place to locate that building so that it serves the most kids,” he said.
on the bond referendum can be found .
The bond requires at least 60% voter approval to pass. Halupnik said if it fails, the district’s space challenges will continue to grow.
“Our growth continues,” he said. “That pressure on space continues to ramp up, and so we would have to look at different ways of dealing with that, whether that would be class size, looking for alternative areas for space. We’ll cross that bridge if we have to.”
Halupnik said the bond will not raise the district’s property tax levy rate.
“We were able to structure the bond such that we would not need to raise the district’s property tax levy rate,” he said. “The board’s really prudent and conservative financial practices in the past have set us up in a good spot where we can structure the bond repayments such that we don’t have to raise the levy rate.”
He said the $51 million bond breaks down to roughly $40 million for the new elementary school, $3 million for playground upgrades, $7 million for junior high renovations, and about $1 million in costs associated with executing the bond.
Halupnik said continued growth makes the investment necessary.
“Our needs continue to be able to support the students in the manner that we all want to,” he said. “That growth drives all of these projects.”
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