FORT MADISON, Iowa -- The Fort Madison School Board is putting a $27 million general obligation bond issuance that will pay for the construction of a new elementary school and softball and baseball fields to vote June 27.
Voters narrowly rejected a bond for the same amount and purpose in December by a 756 to 714 vote.
Superintendent Erin Slater said the two ballot questions will be the same as the last special election. What's different this time is voting centers. Residents of the Fort Madison School District will be able to vote at the Fort Madison Public Library, 1920 Avenue E; Grace Bible Church, 3526 157th St. in Wever; West Point Library, 317 Fifth St. in West Liberty; and Roling Hall, 1111 Avenue E in Fort Madison, regardless of their precinct. The voting centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Residents also will have the option to vote from home. Absentee ballot request forms with the election type and date already filled out can be provided to residents.
"You can vote in your pajamas," Slater said.
Absentee voting begins May 25, and absentee ballots must be postmarked by June 26. The mail-in voter registration deadline is 5 p.m. June 16.
Since the last election, the school board has been gathering community feedback about how to better communicate the need for a new school and sports fields. The Fort Madison KIDS Committee has taken to social media to communicate student needs not being met by the Lincoln and Richardson elementary school buildings, and people have been passing out flyers to increase public awareness of the election and student needs.
The elementary school would replace the district's two elementary schools, both of which have restricted air-conditioning, are unable to support growing technology needs and have broken-down boilers, non-secure entrances, limited handicap accessibility and lack sufficient space for storage and students, as closets and hallways are used for learning spaces.
A new building also would allow preschoolers, who now are dispersed among three buildings in Fort Madison, to use the same building as kindergartners. Doing so would bring together preschool and kindergarten teachers, making it easier for them to collaborate and better allowing for vertical alignment, in which concepts students learn one year align with and build upon what they learned the previous year.
The bond would have a monthly property tax impact of $2.64 on a $75,000 home and 3 cents per 1,000 acres of agriculture land.
The school would be built next to Fort Madison Middle School and the 95-acre parcel of land at Bluff Road and 48th Street, where the side-by-side softball and baseball fields also would be built.
