Board sets bond at $14M
The Whitefish School Board is asking
voters to help fund a major renovation of the high school.
The board Jan. 10 voted 6-1 to hold a
$14 million bond election to fund the project. Trustee Charlie
Abell was the sole dissenting vote. The mail-in ballot election is
set for March 15.
The school district is planning a $19
million upgrade of the school. Whitefish City Council recently
committed $2.5 million to the project, while other grants and
private donations have been secured toward the total cost.
The rest of the financing is set to
come from the bond. If approved, the bond election would result in
a roughly $40 increase per year on a home valued at $200,000.
Abell said he favors completing
much-needed maintenance rather than a complete remodel of the
school. He suggested that a quality education is not based on the
building.
“I can remember the great teachers I
had, but not the room I was in,” he said. “It’s the character and
people that occupy (the building) that make our school.”
He cited the University of Oxford as a
place that provides a superior education inside buildings hundreds
of years old.
“We can do what we need to do and we
can do it for less than that,” he said referring to the $14
million. “Don’t be part of the throw away society.”
Trustee Ruth Harrison said the bond
election is a way for the community to decide if it wants to
participate, alongside students and staff, in striving for
excellence in education.
“We need to give the opportunity to
participate in that culture,” she said. “We, as a board, need to
allow the community to have a say whether or not they want to
participate.”
The school district is proposing to
renovate 40 percent of the existing school and replace the
remaining area with a new structure. New features in the two-story
120,000-square-foot building include a mix of classroom sizes and
large learning spaces, a large assembly hall, modern library and a
dining area.
During public comment before the vote,
Bruce Tate asked the board to reconsider the bond election. Tate’s
father, Ralph, was a principal in the Whitefish school system from
the 1930s to the 1950s.
Despite a family commitment to
education, Tate said the bond would be unfair to the taxpayer
because even a small increase has an impact. More donated money
should be committed to the project before asking for a bond
election, he noted.
“It’s a large amount of money to a lot
of people — those on a fixed income or those who are unemployed,”
Tate said. “Show the taxpayer you can be good stewards of their
money.”
Trustee Dave Fern said he “basically”
agreed with Tate, but pointed out there has been a strong effort to
secure private donations.
“A lot of donors want to give above and
beyond that $14 million bond,” Fern said.
The district plans to seek an
additional $500,000 in donations to complete the proposed
performance and assembly hall. Discussions have also included
soliciting funds for extra improvements to the gym.
City council recently committed $2.5
million in tax increment funds to the project. That money combined
with other donations has allowed the district to raise $4.5 million
toward the upgrade, and lower the bond request to $14 million.
Two past high school bond elections in
Whitefish have failed. The most recent in 2008 was for $21.5
million.
According to the school district, the
high school has become outdated based on today’s teaching styles
and is deteriorating.
On Jan. 11 the school board approved
establishing an agency with the Whitefish Community Foundation as
part of the high school renovation. This allows the foundation to
take donations for the project on behalf of the school
district.
Election ballots will be mailed to
voters on Feb. 28 and are due back to the district office by March
15.
Plans for the high school renovation
may be viewed online at www.whitefishhighschoolfuture.com.