GCSD Voters Reject Extension Of RPS

 Voters delivered a setback to the Glenwood Community School District last week when they failed to pass a 20-year extension of the district’s Revenue Purpose Statement (RPS).
  

The measure failed 868-723 (55%-45%) in the March 5 special election with 19% of registered voters casting a ballot.

The RPS allows a school district in Iowa to allocate funds from its Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) fund – a statewide one-cent educational sales tax – for school infrastructure projects.  The GCSD receives approximately $2.5 million annually from the fund. Glenwood’s current RPS was approved in 2011 and is set to expire in 2031. A 20-year extension would have pushed that expiration date out to 2051.

In promoting the 20-year extension of the RPS, proponents of the measure said passage would create some financial flexibility and allow the district to address the pending closure of the Glenwood Resource Center. The campus currently houses the district’s Teaching, Health, Resilience, Independence, Values and Empathy (THRIVE) alternative high school program, Kids Place daycare and GCSD central office. Prior to last Tuesday’s vote, district officials were discussing the possibility of building a 35,000 to 40,000 square foot prefab building on a parcel of land the district owns northeast of the high school to house Kids Place, THRIVE and the central office if the RPS extension were to pass.  The cost of that building is estimated between $6.8 and $7 million.

In a written statement shared after last week’s special election, GCSD Superintendent Devin Embray said as a result of the measure’s failure to pass, the district will now look for an alternative solution to meeting its facilities needs.

“As a result, the Glenwood Community School District will not be able to leverage future statewide one-cent sales tax revenue (SAVE) to construct a new home for THRIVE, Kids Place Day Care, the innovation center and the central office, using a revenue bond in response to the GRC closure,” Embray stated. “We will now look to find an alternative solution to our facilities needs.”

Last week’s vote came just four months after school district residents rejected a $40 million bond issue that would have funded extensive renovation and expansion at Northeast Elementary, including an addition that would house Kids Place, a multipurpose gymnasium, administrative offices and security enhancements, an innovation learning center and HVAC and lighting improvements at the Glenwood Middle School. That measure failed by a 59%-41% margin.

School district officials have discussed putting a scaled-back version of the bond issue on the November general election ballot.