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Andrea Johnson / DND Dusty Wald and his wife, Jill Wald, presented a steering committee recommendation to the Minot School Board on Thursday. The recommendation, which the board adopted, is to ask voters to fund a bond issue that will pay off a second 9-12 high school, renovate Magic City Campus to a 9-12 high school, and turn Central Campus into a third in town. middle school.
Voters will be asked on Dec. 7 to approve a bond issue that would fund a 9-12 high school on the site of the old Cognizant building in northwest Minot, will transform Magic City Campus into an 11-high school campus. 12 into a 9-12 and transform the central campus from a 9-10 high school campus into a third college in town for grades 6-8.
The election will be held in a polling station at the Municipal Auditorium of Minot. Majority approval of 60% or more will be required to proceed with the bond issue.
The Minot Public School Board unanimously approved a motion for a special election.
The ballot will consist of three separate questions. The first question will ask voters to approve $ 84.8 million for the main project. The second question would ask voters, if they approve of the first question, if they also wish to approve an additional $ 24.2 million to pay for the construction of a 50-meter competition pool, new turf and a sports complex at school. The third question will ask voters to approve increasing the debt ceiling to allow the district’s debt to be at 10% of its assessed land value. Currently, the limit is 5% of its assessed value.
“We may never have another chance as good as this one”, the chairman of the board, Jim Rostad, told the board.
The 115,000-square-foot Cognizant property was donated to the school district last year for the nominal sum of $ 10 and is expected to save the district about $ 14 million on the project, according to the school district. The district also received $ 10 million in federal COVID-19 relief dollars from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund which was distributed by the North Dakota Department of Public Education. This funding can be applied to construction projects proposed to address overcrowding at the middle and high school level.
Voters approved a bond issue in 2014 that paid for the construction of the new John Hoeven Elementary School and additions to Perkett and Edison Elementary Schools, but board members warned at the time that overcrowding anticipated at the intermediate and secondary levels would likely require asking voters to approve another bond issue on time. Superintendent Mark Vollmer told council that the central campus alone has nearly 1,100 students in grades 9-10 this year. Jim Hill Middle School is overcapacity and surrounded by mobile classrooms.
Board members noted that Minot is one of only three school districts in the country to have its high school spread over two campuses. They said having two high schools would be good for the students, in part because it would allow them to develop ongoing relationships with their teachers and counselors in the building for four years instead of two.
Focus groups were held throughout the summer and a steering committee was appointed and presented a final recommendation to the board on Thursday.
If voters approve the bond issuance, the best-case scenario would be to have students in the new and renovated schools by fall 2023.
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