On November 3, Rapid City voters will decide whether to approve a $107 million bond for our public schools. Taxpayers should absolutely scrutinize a proposal of that size. We should ask what we’re buying, whether we need it, and whether the investment makes sense.

After looking at what is actually included, I believe it does.

The bond would replace aging HVAC systems at Horace Mann Elementary, Meadowbrook Elementary and North Middle School; improve safety and security at Black Hawk, Grandview, Knollwood, Southwest Middle and West Middle schools; renovate and expand South Park Elementary; construct a new elementary school on the Parkview property in south Rapid City; and make safety and security improvements at Stevens High School.

These aren’t luxury items. They’re infrastructure.

And here’s some important perspective: the last Rapid City school bond passed in 1973.

Richard Nixon was president. Rapid City had roughly half the population it has today. More than five decades have passed since voters approved a school bond.

Whatever your opinion of government spending, asking a growing community to make a major capital investment in its schools once every half-century hardly strikes me as reckless.

One argument I’ve heard repeatedly deserves a response: We didn’t have air conditioning when we went to school. We didn’t have all these security systems. We survived.

That’s true.

But “we didn’t have it” isn’t a particularly good standard for deciding what infrastructure our community needs today.

Many of us grew up without airbags, backup cameras, modern building codes or countless other improvements we now consider normal. We didn’t adopt them because previous generations were incapable of surviving without them. We adopted them because technology improved, circumstances changed, and we learned how to make things safer and better.

Schools are no different.

Rapid City schools have already had to dismiss students early because of excessive heat. Air conditioning isn’t about turning classrooms into luxury accommodations. It’s about maintaining a safe, functional learning environment and keeping schools open for a full day when temperatures climb.

Security is an even clearer example. I wish schools today didn’t need secure entrances, improved locking systems and modern camera coverage. But the security environment facing schools has changed. Pretending otherwise because those measures weren’t necessary when we were children doesn’t make today’s children safer.

We should build schools for the world our children live in, not the one we remember.

There’s another reason I support this bond that doesn’t get discussed enough: economic development.

Rapid City spends enormous energy talking about attracting businesses, recruiting skilled workers and managing growth. Those are worthwhile goals. But economic development isn’t simply convincing a company to put a building here.

People come with those jobs.

When we’re trying to convince an engineer, healthcare professional, tradesperson, teacher or young family to build a life in Rapid City, the quality and condition of our schools are part of the sales pitch whether we acknowledge it or not.

We can offer businesses tax incentives and talk about our quality of life, but eventually a prospective employee with children is going to ask a very practical question:

Where will my kids go to school?

Our answer matters.

But there’s another side to the workforce argument that may be even more important.

The children sitting in Rapid City classrooms today are our future workforce.

They’re the future nurses caring for us at Monument Health. They’re the future electricians, plumbers and construction workers building this community. They’re the future engineers and technicians supporting Ellsworth and our growing defense industry. They’re the future teachers, police officers, small-business owners and entrepreneurs who will determine what Rapid City looks like twenty or thirty years from now. And they’re the future Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines who will volunteer to defend this country.

If we’re serious when we say workforce development is one of our community’s priorities, then workforce development doesn’t begin when someone turns 18 and fills out a job application.

It begins in our schools.

Investing in the places where that future workforce spends much of its childhood shouldn’t be viewed as separate from economic development. It may be one of the most fundamental economic-development investments we make.

Rapid City is also growing. The city’s 2025 population estimate is 86,484, nearly 12,000 more people than in 2020.

Growth requires infrastructure.

We readily understand that when we’re discussing roads, water, sewer, housing and public safety. Schools belong on that list. We cannot celebrate population growth and economic development while pretending the public infrastructure supporting that growth can remain frozen in time.

There’s also nothing fiscally conservative about allowing infrastructure to deteriorate until it fails.

Waiting for an aging HVAC system to break doesn’t make it cheaper to replace. Deferring renovations doesn’t make buildings younger. Continually patching outdated infrastructure isn’t necessarily saving taxpayers money; sometimes it’s simply postponing the bill while allowing it to grow.

None of this means taxpayers should give government a blank check. A $107 million bond deserves scrutiny, transparency and accountability. We should hold the district responsible for delivering the projects voters are being asked to fund.

But after more than 50 years without a successful school bond, we should also be willing to recognize when investment is necessary.

Economic development isn’t just landing the next company, approving the next development or announcing the next project. It’s creating a community where businesses can find workers, workers want to live, families want to stay, and our children have the opportunity to become the educated and skilled workforce that will sustain this community long after we’re gone.

That means roads and utilities. It means housing and public safety.

And yes, it means schools.

Fifty-three years after Rapid City voters last approved a school bond, investing in safe, functional schools for the next generation isn’t extravagant.

Disclosure: Opinions expressed in this article may not necessarily represent The Rapid City Post or it’s advertisers.