Rapid City has shown an aversion to passing school bond votes in the past, but district leaders say infrastructure improvements can’t wait - and are too costly to accomplish without a big investment.
A proposed school bond issue for Rapid City is in the survey phase right now. Signs point to soft—but not universal—support for the proposal.
Under state law, a school bond vote requires 60% of voters to approve to pass. Current survey results suggest roughly 58% of respondents are on board, with a margin of error of under 1.5%.
With Rapid City’s half-century of failed school bond votes, that begs the question: what specifically is in this proposal?
The proposal calls for $125 million over the next ten years. How that money would be used varies from school to school. The district is primarily focused on infrastructure needs the administration says can’t be afforded without a larger bond vote.
The median age of the district’s school buildings is 63 years old. Many of those facilities are near or over capacity, need security upgrades or lack air conditioning entirely.
Only one school, the brand new South Middle, scored positively in all three fields of capacity, mechanical and security benchmarks.
The construction of a new elementary school is also included in the proposal.
District financial manager Coy Sasse said the district understands there is still work to do but is confident moving forward.
“Ultimately, it looks like good support," Sasse said. "Obviously, that still falls short of the 60% supermajority required in our state to pass a bond, but I think overall we feel really good about the perception of the community and where they were at in their level of support for a potential referendum.”
The results of this survey are preliminary, and a date has not yet been set for the bond issue vote.