With deadlines approaching to submit bond or levy requests to voters in the spring and fall, Kalispell school leaders are weighing the many options in front of them.
At its meeting on March 8, the Kalispell School District #5 Board of Trustees will decide whether to pursue a general fund mill levy for the high school district.
Superintendent Mark Flatau said there are mounting needs at Flathead and Glacier high schools, as well as Linderman Education Center, leading to a possible request for mill levy funds.
If the district decides to float a levy request, the timing could hinge on whether there are contested races in the upcoming school board election on May 3. If there are not contested races, then the district would likely push back the levy election to June 7, Flatau said, to give the district more time to properly explain the need to the community.
The district’s levy requests have fallen short in four consecutive attempts. A $600,000 technology levy failed in 2014. A $4.12 million building reserve levy failed in 2012. A $5.98 million building reserve levy failed in 2011. And a $4.12 million building reserve levy failed in 2009.
The last successful request for the high school district was in 2007, when voters approved a $634,547 levy.
At the same time board members are debating the high school district’s needs, school administrators are working with a group of teachers, staff, community members and planners to discuss options for the crowded elementary district.
At a meeting last week, Flatau said the district plans to meet with the owner of a 25-acre parcel off Whitefish Stage Road for a possible future school site. The owner is currently working with surveyors to map out preliminary drawings of the land that could show whether it would be optimal for a school.
“I’m confident that we certainly will secure that one piece and I’m confident that the price will be right,” Flatau said.
With that potential new property added to the mix, the school district must weigh whether to purchase that land and propose a new school site at the same time it seeks voter approval for a bond that would also pay for two new elementary sites on the south end of Kalispell, where the district already owns 25 acres.
A steering committee that has met for eight months has zeroed in on its potential recommendation for the south Kalispell property along Airport Road. The many options for the site have been whittled down to building a new elementary school for kindergarten through fifth grade and a middle school for sixth through eighth grade. This option could address the swelling elementary population that hit a record 3,018 students at five schools this fall. Kalispell Middle School, with nearly 1,100 students, is the lone middle school in town and the largest in Montana.
The group will continue to meet over the next few months to cement its recommendation, which will then be presented to the school board to decide on.
The district must submit an application for a bond or levy request 70 days before an election can take place.
Flatau said the district has tentatively planned to float a bond request for the new schools to voters in October or November.