A $127 million bond issue will be decided this spring by taxpayers in the South Sioux City Community Schools district.
The district Board of Education voted unanimously late Tuesday afternoon to accept a Cardinal Vision proposal that the school superintendent said is a “pivotal moment” in the community’s history.
The proposal, one of four considered by community members at the end of a six-month effort to educate the community on aging buildings and overcrowding issues in the school district, comes at what Dr. Rony Ortega calls a key period in the community’s history.
“There is always opposition to a tax increase, but this is our best time to change the trajectory of our community,” Dr. Ortega told the Star. “It has been a half-year leading up to this. The board has been involved with this from the beginning and were well-informed. They did their due diligence and we were able to get a unanimous decision."
At Tuesday’s meeting, Dr. Ortega addressed the board and stated that the Community Development Agency had met earlier in the day and discussed Option CV4, the plan agreed upon by Cardinal Vision community members after six months of meetings. The option comes with a price tag of $127 million to complete, and would cost South Sioux City residents an extra $40 a month, based on a $200,000 home, over the next 25 years.
Lance Swanson, the school’s foundation director, told the Dakota County Star that the district’s tax asking on this project comes at a time where the district is not currently paying off any previous bond issue.
“We have been bond-free and the board has lowered the district’s levy each of the last two years,” he said. “We have been transparent with the community on this, and the problems aren’t going to go away and would cost more down the road.”
If approved by taxpayers later this spring, the $127 million bond issue would include the following:
— building a new 5/6 Intermediate center,
— building a new K-4 building that would replace the district’s two oldest buildings at Covington and Lewis & Clark Elementary,
— building a new Pre-K building that would replace EN Swett Elementary,
— develop a Career Pathways program,
— address capacity issues at the district’s other elementary schools,
— make security and accessibility improvements at all building,
— update learning and classrooms district-wide,
— address middle school infrastructure issues,
— address commons and gym capacity at Dakota City Elementary.
The Cardinal Vision program’s purpose, from the beginning, was aimed at addressing the aging buildings within the district. The average age of the district’s eight buildings is well over the national average of 49 years, with Covington (101) and Dakota City Elementary (77) well past that age. Lewis & Clark and E.N. Swett Elementary are both 64 years of age, and the high school is 56 years old. Only the middle school (49), district office (46) and Cardinal and Harney elementaries (31) are under the national average.
“When we launched Cardinal Vision, we aimed to address our aging and crowded facilities. Those were the root issues we shared with the community,” Ortega said. “We are just excited that the community agreed that those were the issues to be resolved."
The bond issue not only addresses the building concerns, but addresses security and accessibility issues across the district. Each of the district’s buildings will see some sort of improvement if the bond issue is approved by voters this spring.
Dr. Ortega said that the district will be looking at a mail-in ballot on Tuesday, May 13. The school filed the election request early Wednesday morning with Dakota County Clerk Cherie Conley and must wait eight weeks from the filing date to hold the special election.
“We felt that with the nine precincts in the district, it would be a more efficient opportunity to give everybody a chance to exercise their right to vote,” he said. “There has been a ton of discussion about it and 73 percent of the voters have said they are familiar with the Cardinal Vision plan.”
Dr. Ortega encouraged district residents to contact the school and arrange a tour of the facilities to get a first-hand look at what the bond issue will cover before making their decision.
“This is one of those pivotal moments in a community’s history, and I would encourage people to ask questions and tour our schools and get the facts from the district,” he said.
