Douglas County Schools Superintendent Erin Kane says hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to build new schools and bring existing ones into good shape. She has asked the school board to put a $490 million bond issue on the ballot in November to see if voters support funding a range of improvements.
The district has not issued a bond since 2018, and the money from that bond has since been spent. Without additional bond funding, Kane said, the school building maintenance backlog has reached $300 million and is growing annually.
In addition, the district must build new elementary schools to serve growing neighborhoods that currently have no schools, including Sterling Ranch and Ridgegate. Students from those neighborhoods are currently bused to the overcrowded schools.
Kane said the bond is the district’s only way to make major improvements, pointing out that even if all the surplus properties were sold, the money would not be enough for a year’s worth of maintenance.
“Ultimately, it is the responsibility of our citizens to provide schools to the community,” Kane said. “The ability to provide safe and appropriate classrooms for students that we know are best for their learning would be compromised by our inability to take on this debt.”
Kane said she was recommending the $490 million amount only after considering other options because it would not result in a tax increase and would receive the most support in polls.
Last year, the district asked voters to issue a $488 million bond to fund three years of maintenance, build three new elementary schools and expand two middle schools, but the proposal failed because 52 percent of voters voted against it.
Inflation has made construction and maintenance more expensive, Kane said. The $490 million bond would cover the construction of two new elementary schools, the expansion of a middle school and much of the maintenance projects through 2026.
“The schools that students attend are getting older and the need for capital is becoming more urgent,” Kane said.
The bond would not raise taxes and this is the last year Douglas County can apply for a bond without raising taxes because of how the county’s debt repayment is structured. If a bond does not come to a vote or is rejected, property taxes on a $1 million home will drop by an estimated $94 per year.
A poll of 800 likely voters conducted in June found that 60 percent of respondents would approve of a $490 million bond.
If the board does not put the bond to a vote, or if it does and the vote fails, Kane said there would be significant financial implications and disruption for students.
“The biggest impact will be that continued growth will result in students being diverted from new communities to existing communities, which in turn will result in students being diverted from existing communities to schools further from where they live,” she said.
Kane said the goal is to return to a regular three- to four-year cadence of bond issuance, as the district did from 1984 to 2006. She added that future bonds, whether or not one passes in 2024, would require tax increases.
“If we look at a future bond, it will mean a tax increase,” she said.
Board members have expressed support for the plan. Board member Kaylee Winegar, who serves on the district’s financial oversight committee, said the committee agreed that a bond was the most financially responsible way to meet capital needs.
“I think the recommendation is wise,” Winegar said.
The Board of Directors will vote on whether to put the bond to a vote at its meeting on August 27.
