Fort Madison School District, Iowa, officials and community members hope to pass a $27 million bond issue to build, furnish and equip a new elementary school building that would replace the district's two older ones, along with building new softball and baseball fields.
Neither the amount nor the plans for the bond have changed in this the third attempt to win funding. The first special election on the bond took place in December 2016, when 48% of the 1,470 people who voted cast ballots in favor of it.
The second election, which took place in June, had higher voter turnout and approval. Nearly 3,000 people voted, and nearly 56% did so in favor of passing the issuance. It requires 60% plus 1 voter approval to pass.
The next vote is scheduled for April 3.
There likely will be more than one day to go out and cast a ballot, however, as the Kids Committee -- a group of community members campaigning for the bond -- is looking into setting up satellite polling locations on different days, enabling more people to vote. The dates and locations for those polling sites have yet to be determined.
"Sometimes, just having one voting date and time isn't convenient for how busy our parents are," Superintendent Erin Slater said Monday.
The district's existing elementary schools, Richardson and Lincoln, cannot adequately support heating and cooling equipment, nor can they support the school's technology needs. Air-conditioned spaces are few, and some classes take turns using them just so students can cool down after recess on hot spring and fall days.
The buildings also aren't handicap accessible as stairs block students in wheelchairs from accessing some classrooms, and they don't have the security features of modern school buildings.
Space is another problem for the buildings. Any of the available nooks and crannies in the buildings, such as those in stairwells, have been re-purposed as storage space, and some teachers have gone out of pocket to make dual seating and storage spaces for the students in their classrooms.
Bringing those schools up to par would cost an estimated $34 million, more than it would for the new school and softball and football fields, all of which would be built next to Fort Madison Middle School on the 95-acre parcel of land the district owns at Bluff Road and 48th Street.
"We strongly believe this is the right step for our school district and our community," Slater said.
The new building would be able to accommodate about 700 students. The district now serves about 630 elementary students.
Separate pods for special education, pre-K, kindergarten, first-, second- and third-grade classrooms would jut out from the center of the building, allowing for more windows and more natural light to enter the classrooms.
The building's furnishings would be conducive to collaboration time, with each classroom equipped with sitting stairs, which are short, wide staircases students can work together on without the confines of desks. The goal is for learning spaces to be vibrant and flexible.
A media center would be in the center of the open corridor connecting the classrooms.
The one-story building also would be air-conditioned, energy efficient and able to support growing technology needs.
Slater said the new school likely would attract young families and teachers to the area as well as better prepare students for their future.
For a property whose assessed value is $100,000, property taxes would increase by $3.64 per month, or $43.67 per year. Property taxes for a home with an assessed value of $60,827 — the average valuation in Fort Madison — would increase by $2.08 per month, or $24.93 per year.
The bond would have a monthly property tax impact of 3 cents per 1,000 acres of agriculture land.
