District mulls high school bond

Columbia Falls School District 6 Superintendent Cory Dzwiogo urged the board last week to begin thinking about a possible bond to remodel the high school.

The school was built in 1959 and while engineers have previously said it has “good bones,” it’s in need of some updates, particularly when it comes to the gym, the music and band rooms and industrial arts, all of which are housed on the west side of the building.

The silver lining to last summer’s flooding during the re-roofing project is that the classroom wing has been largely remodeled with more work still yet to be done. The bulk of that remodel, which has cost $1.5 million to date, has been paid for by insurance.

In addition to almost all new classrooms, the wing will see new lockers, new flooring and a new heat system.

Dzwiogo said after the meeting his approach will be to first talk to staff, as well as community and business leaders as to what the needs for the school are.

The gym floor, as one example, is almost down to the nails and likely can’t be refinished again. In addition, the gym is considered too small to host large tournaments like the western divisional basketball tournament.

The school also needs security upgrades as well. The district will also look at projections for enrollment in the coming years. This year, elementary enrollment was down, while the high school stayed steady. High school enrollment is about 700, making Columbia Falls the largest class A school in the state.

Once the needs are accessed, the school will likely hire a firm to put pencil to paper to come up with some options and cost estimates, which will take a few months.

Polson recently remodeled its high school, which cost $16.6 million, but also added 12 classrooms. 

Whitefish passed two separate bonds last year, one for a high school expansion and the other for an outdoor sports complex and stadium.

The total cost of that package was $26.5 million for the high school and $6.1 million for the sports complex.

In Columbia Falls, the picture is a bit different, as voters approved a $37 million bond in 2019 to build a new Glacier Gateway Elementary School and remodel Ruder Elementary School.

Those projects limit the district’s overall ability to borrow more money, as the bonds are for 20 years.

Right now, as an example, on a home assessed for 569,000, the School District 6 debt service payment is $314. The total school tax bill is about $1,800, though about $100 of that is charges related to Flathead Community College.