Voters in the Gresham School District will be asked in April to approve borrowing more than $9 million to build a new high school and make other facility improvements.
The school board has voted to hold referendums on borrowing $6 million for the new high school and another $3.2 million for indoor recreational facilities designed as community-wide resources.
The two referendum questions will appear on the April 5 ballot throughout the school district, which broke away eight years ago from the neighboring Shawano School District.
Supporters of the ballot initiative see it as a logical next step in the community’s decision to split from Shawano and create a new local district where educators and taxpayers control their own destiny.
“The money is staying here,” school board member Grace Schwefel said. “I feel very strongly that this is a positive move for us.”
The referendum effort, however, is not without opposition.
The school board approved going ahead with the ballot initiative last Thursday by a 4-2 vote, with two board members voicing concern that the district was rushing into things and moving too aggressively.
School board member Bill Arendt, a retired teacher, said officials should take more time to examine the situation and gauge whether the small district is prepared for a $9.2 million spending plan.
“I think that’s a little too much for this community,” Arendt said.
The district has about 320 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
According to district administrators, the two ballot questions, if approved, would increase property taxes about $200 a year, up to $1,244 annually, for the owner of an average $100,000 home in the district.
The money would be used to fund a sweeping modernization effort: building a new high school, building a new gymnasium and recreation center, updating other school facilities with new roofs and windows, and demolishing the old high school and replacing it with new district administrative offices.
The new high school, gymnasium and recreation center would be built on district property next to the existing K-12 school complex at 501 Schabow St.
Officials believe the high school could be ready for students by the start of the 2017-18 school year.
Holly Burr, the district’s finance and operations director, called it exciting that the building effort is going before voters and that the district has a chance to dramatically upgrade its facilities. Burr said enthusiasm for the referendums is running high among students, teachers and others in the community.
“This project has been a long time in the works,” she said.
The district previously was part of the Shawano-Gresham School District until voters in 2007 approved breaking away, after there was talk of closing Gresham High School as a cost-cutting move.
Administrators now face the prospect of a high school that is 80 years old and badly in need of repairs. Officials say fixing up the property could cost more than building a new high school. Under the referendum plan, adjacent facilities used for elementary and middle school students would remain at 501 Schabow St. and would undergo improvements.
Consultants issued a report last year assessing the high school’s physical needs and recommended the district build new.
School board member Margie Eberhard, who voted against holding the referendums, said she thinks more study is needed to determine if the district is ready financially to take on $9.2 million in debt. Eberhard said consideration should be given to the district’s demographics, its tax base, and the number of Indian tribe properties becoming tax-exempt.
Unless such questions are answered, Eberhard said she would oppose the referendums.
“I’m a very pragmatic person,” she said. “We need to be prudent, and we need to be careful.”
Supporters of the ballot initiative voiced confidence that the district is capable of completing the building program.
Although public meetings will be held to explain the referendum proposals, Burr said people in the community already know the deteriorated and congested condition of the school facilities. Replacing the 80-year-old high school, Burr said, is a “dire need.”
“There really isn’t any option,” she said. “I’m fairly certain that the community understands that.”
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