D-49 board to ask voters for $125 million bond issue

The Falcon School District 49 board voted unanimously Thursday night to ask voters to approve a $125 million bond issue to help relieve crowding.

The bond would add 3,500 seats to the district, including an addition at Falcon High School and a new 900-student middle school. It would cover facility additions at Vista Ridge High School, including an auditorium and a gym, and some district-wide security, technology and transportation needs.

Board members approved the motion to put the question on the November ballot with no discussion.

In the only comment from the public, former board member Dave Stark said he was concerned that the board had not posted the wording online before taking the vote.

District 49, with 14,400 students last year, has consistently been one of the fastest growing districts in the state. Growth slowed a bit last year with only a 3 percent increase, but the increase has averaged 7 percent for the last five years.

This year, District 49 had expected a 2 percent increase. As enrollments jumped at the start of the term, Superintendent Bradley Schoeppey said he expected an increase or 4 percent to 5 percent.

Although enrollment figures aren’t final, district officials said they’ve enrolled more than 1,000 students who are new to the district this year.

Andy Holloman, school board treasurer, said before the meeting Thursday that it’s a tough year to pursue a bond but the district’s growth must be addressed.

“We want to continue to be a fiscally conservative board,” he said.

David Martin, school board president, is hopeful about the bond’s success.

“I think the community believes in what we’re doing,” Martin said. “This is an investment in the kids of D-49.”

Holloman said he and other board members have received support from parents on the bond issue since it first came up as possibility.

The cost for a homeowner would be about two cups of coffee a month, Martin said. That investment helps students, but it will also create jobs to support the new facilities, he said.

If voters approved a $125 million bond, it would increase property taxes on a $100,000 house by $3.25-$3.50 a month, according to a district fact sheet.

The district’s Long Range Planning Committee determined that the fast-growing district’s facility needs are $310 million, with $125 million in improvements deemed “critical.”

“We have to look at the bond as an investment in the community,” Holloman said.

The last tax increase in the district came in 2005, when voters approved an $80.5 million mill levy override – an unusual request for capitol projects. But the district at the time out of room for students and didn’t have enough bonding capacity for a bond measure, said D-49 spokeswoman Stephanie Wurtz Meredith.

Falcon 49 bond issues failed in 2003 and 2004.

—
Contact the writer at 636-0162.