I have not endorsed a political issue as Managing Editor of the Rapid City Post... until today. I am endorsing the Rapid City School Bond.
The bond pays for work that is long past due. Horace Mann Elementary, Meadowbrook Elementary and North Middle School would get failing heating and cooling systems replaced. Stevens High School would get controlled building access and better security. South Park Elementary would be renovated and expanded, and a new elementary school would be built in the Parkview area.
Rapid City has not passed a school bond since 1973. Our average school building is more than 50 years old. The time is now.
I’ve heard the objections, and each one deserves an answer.
The heat
You almost certainly did not start school as early in August as these kids do, and August is hotter than September. If that doesn’t move you, consider that we are competing for teachers and families with districts that solved this problem years ago. Would you take a job in an 80-degree classroom?
If we won’t pay to be competitive, we can at least make the environment livable. And ask yourself how much math you’d learn in that same room. New systems will also cut what we spend on utilities and emergency repairs for decades to come.
Security
These measures are necessary, which is its own kind of tragedy. I grew up in Littleton, Colorado, and I was in high school when Columbine happened. In the years since, remarkably little has changed about how we protect students in their own buildings. Let’s keep our kids safe.
It isn’t enough
It isn’t. It’s still the best option in front of us. Some schools won’t get their HVAC replaced in this round. Those include Pinedale, Robbinsdale, South Canyon, and Wilson. They will be addressed annually with the district’s Capital Outlay funds and all of the heating and cooling systems will likely be upgraded within the next ten years. The district plans in decades, not budget cycles, and so should we.
Not my kids
Maybe you don’t have children, or they already graduated, or you homeschool, or you send them to private school. Good. I have three in the district. My youngest sits in a hot classroom. My oldest went through several lock-down scares at Stevens.
Your friends and neighbors are leaving work early to pick up kids on extreme heat days, which is bad for their families and bad for the businesses that employ them.
An educated Rapid City is a better Rapid City. These kids will run this town one day, and some of them will take care of us. Let’s teach them what it looks like when a community covers the basics and hope they return the favor.
The cost
There is a real cost. A bond is essentially a loan, and we would be lending the district $107 million. That works out to 49 cents per $1,000 of your home’s value each year. On a $300,000 house, that’s $12.25 a month for 20 years. If the bond fails, we pay anyway. Delayed projects are estimated to add as much as $90 million in construction and financing costs, and that figure doesn’t count the upkeep and utility bills that come with keeping failing systems on life support. The more houses developed will add to the share of the payment and the cost to individuals will go down. In addition, there is a pretty significant state property tax reform that was passed that will very likely outweigh the cost an individual will be paying from this bond.
The need doesn’t go away if we vote no. It just gets heavier and more expensive, with projects pushed out eight to twenty years. The greater the wait, the greater the weight.
Vote yes on the school bond.
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