RAPID CITY, SD — At Tuesday nights’ meeting, Rapid City Area Schools’ Board voted unanimously to move forward with a proposal which has been in the works for months now, affecting the 23 schools that make up the second largest district in the state. 

The bond, which has been reduced to $107 million from an initial $124 million total in an effort to reduce burden on local taxpayers, has been an active conversation within the district in meetings and local surveys, as District officials worked with the community to find an acceptable deal. 

This bond was made more urgent as of last fall, given an increasing commonality of school days cancelled due to extreme heat lacking HVAC systems, and reported structural concerns for the safety and longevity of nearly all schools in the district. In reports, particular focus was given to Robbinsdale Elementary, one of the cities’ oldest facilities, which the District says will likely have to be closed entirely due to the considerable cost of renovation and the instability of the ground the elementary school currently sits on. 

“We know that students learn best in environments that are safe, comfortable, and consistent,” Said Dr. Jami Jo Johnson, District Superintendent in a conference on Wednesday, “This plan addresses all three of those things. It provides improved air quality and temperature to support our students’ health, attendance and concentration. It reduces overcrowding, which allows our teachers to support our students with more individualized attention and better classroom management, and it eliminates portable classrooms, which ensures that students have access to fully equipped safe and permanent learning spaces. In addition, this plan ensures equitable resources across the district, by ensuring that every student has access to the same level of safety and quality facilities. Regardless of which school that they attend, it balances needs across our district, so that we’re not leaving older schools behind while we continue to grow”.

However, Rapid City has not approved a bond in over 53 years, and given recent hurt property owners have voiced concern with this proposal over the course of discussion. Additional costs as of the finalized proposal would collect the amount via a tax of 0.49 cents for every $1,000 of property value of a given property owner. For example: at a median home value of $356,000 (via Zillow) property owners can expect to pay just over $174 to fund significant infrastructural work such as the improvement or installation of security and HVAC systems around the city, and the construction of three new elementary schools, seeking to address the significant issues with aging facilities and overpopulation. “We’ve worked very, very hard to do everything we could to lower the burden on the taxpayers,” said District Chief Finance and Operations Officer Coy Sasse.

In light of legislative action aimed at relieving property tax burden passed this year however, RCAS is hopeful to be able to tackle big issues following the referendum vote now set for this coming November. “We’ve been very diligent about making hopefully very strategic investments that are going to serve our community very well, but at the end of the day, these projects are not going anywhere. They’re not going to disappear, they’re going to continue to be needs. We’re going to continue to do our best to check those needs off the list, and what is present is the idea that the further that we push these projects, the more expensive they become. Ultimately, that expense stays on the taxpayers, no matter what,” said Sasse, who provided a colorful metaphor which compared the Districts’ capabilities without significant investment to attempting to plug a leaking dam with chewing gum.

The district says that they will be putting out information on the RCAS website in the months leading up to the vote, and will not be spending money campaigning in compliance with state law. Information on the Referendum is available on the RCAS Website at www.rcas.org/page/bond-information