School officials mulling $19.5 million construction project

The Decorah School Board hasn't yet officially voted on a plan to spend $19.5 million to fix up John Cline School and Thomas Roberts High School.  But they came closer to that decision on Tuesday when they met for two hours to discuss how to raise the money for such a project.

The proposal reviewed by the school board on Monday would pay off the PPEL levy bonds from 2004, then use a $10.4 million bond levy, a $5.7 million PPEL levy and $5.6 million in local option sales tax receipts to fund the construction.  The bond issue would have to be approved by 60 percent of people voting in a special referendum; the PPEL levy would have to be approved by a simple majority; and the local option sales tax receipts do not require a vote.

While school board members reviewed a possible construction time line at Thomas Roberts and John Cline, Superintendent Mike Haluska cautioned that "You know what you want to do over the next five years, but circumstances often dictate when you do them."

The majority of the classrooms at Decorah High School would be remodeled in stage one of the project—almost every room east of the present cafeteria.  The project would take 18-24 months to complete.

Representatives from the Decorah School District Shareholders group are expected to visit the school board later this month to officially request that the bond issue and the PPEL refinancing be put on the ballot.  School officials also spent some time Tuesday discussing what could be done if the bond issue and PPEL refinancing--or just the bond issue--got rejected by voters in the special election.