The Eden Valley-Watkins school board had created a community task force and moved forward, unanimously, with their recommendations for needed improvement to the district?Äôs facilities. A special election was held June 6 with moderate voter turnout; a total of 904 votes were cast from among more than 2,500 registered district voters.
The bond referendum failed, by nearly 2:1. 595 no to 309 yes.
The next step, says superintendent Mark Messman, is to schedule a study session in the next couple of weeks. He will ask the school board members to meet with their constituents in the meantime, and to come back to this study session with ideas on how to address the safety and security needs of the district?Äôs schools.
?ÄúThe community has spoken,?Äù Messman said Tuesday this week, ?Äúand we need to respect their decision.?Äù
?ÄúThe school district?Äôs infrastructure and security issues did not go away with the special election defeat,?Äù he added.
In a written statement this week, Messman wrote:
?ÄúThe failure of the bond referendum is certainly a disappointment but, as with any challenge, there are things to be learned, and the school district is sure to gain strength from this effort. ?Ķ We?Äôre extremely proud of the staff and students and the exceptional level of teaching and learning that takes place in our schools.
?ÄúOur district will continue to serve as an educational leader and move forward, educating our youth to the best of our abilities. We?Äôll continue to have conversations about our security concerns, aging high school, and our facility needs won?Äôt be corrected without community support to do so. ?Ķ
?ÄúWe would like to thank our Facilities Task Force and representatives for all of the volunteer hours and collaboration, working so hard to craft a facilities improvement initiative. Our Task Force members have been a pleasure to work with, and their passion for education and EV-W schools was evident every step of the way. The community is fortunate to have such motivated and dedicated individuals willing to serve the greater good! ?Ķ?Äù
School districts are the only government entity that must ask its taxpayers to vote themselves a tax increase. Cities, townships, counties, and states can simply increase property taxes when funds are needed for infrastructure, for instance. Schools cannot. They must learn to operate with state funding that is complicated and erratic, at best. Operating expenses are often fixed and mandated, while revenues can fluctuate wildly.
School boards are elected by each community to represent the taxpayers, and to act in the best interest of students in the district. In this case, clear needs were identified that will benefit the district long-term, and improve the learning environment for EV-W students. Clearly, this message was not communicated well enough to voters to convince them. Not for lack of effort.
The board will regroup to formulate a new plan to address safety and security needs in the district, and build upon the hard work that has already been done so far. But this takes time, and the 90-year-old core building of the high school will be even older by the time needed upgrades can be made.