‘Vote yes’ group looks to overcome misinformation before Tuesday vote on $220M school bond

CEDAR RAPIDS — To rally support for the largest school bond referendum to ever come before voters in state history, the group supporting a “yes” vote Tuesday on a $220 million school bond referendum is relying on voter outreach and trying to combat public confusion over what the bonds would pay for.

The “Vote Yes to Invest” group has raised $23,875, according to Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board filings.

In the final days before the election, campaign chair Scott Drzycimski said the group is relying on social media, calls and texts to voters and door-to-door campaigning to get people to the polls to support the measure.

In pushing for the referendum’s passage, school district officials have highlighted the dire state of some facilities — spaces that are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, outdated gym facilities, limited career and technical classroom space, small cafeterias and more.

But opposition has clouded messaging about these needs.

For instance, historic preservation advocates have condemned the school board’s decision to demolish Harrison Elementary School, 1310 11th St. NW, though that demolition is not part of what voters are being asked to consider Tuesday.

Drzycimski said educating voters on the bond issue’s actual language is key. He attributed voters’ confusion to the facilities master plan going through a two-year planning process, where the plan went through many changes.

Plus, a second $225 million general obligation bond is proposed to be taken to voters in 2029 to complete projects under the district’s facility master plan. That part of the plan is subject to change, allowing a future — potentially different — school board to weigh in and to consider changes in the community, Drzycimski said.

“There's still a lot of conversation about items that weren't there,” Drzycimski said. “ … It's been tough, and so that is really one of our key focuses is just to make sure people know what they're voting for.”

Projects that would be funded by the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s $220 million bond referendum include a new sixth-through-eighth grade middle school at a location to be determined; new career and technical education additions and new turf fields at three high schools; renovations to Kennedy High School’s cafeteria and kitchen; upgrades to the Metro High School gym; and renovations to Franklin Middle School.

Superintendent Tawana Grover has said the district may look at putting the new middle school at the current Harding Middle School location, 4801 Golf St. NE.

Ultimately, the district’s facilities master plan would reduce the number of middle schools in the district from its existing six. This is intended to create a stronger “feeder system” for students in K-12, allowing students to stay together with classmates as they move from elementary to middle to high school.

In Iowa, at least 60 percent of voters must vote to pass a school bond issue — basically, loans that schools take out, typically for 10, 15 or 20 years. The voters, in passing bond issues, agree to repay the loan, with interest, through their property taxes.

If the bond request is approved by district voters Tuesday, the Cedar Rapids school property tax rate would increase from $14.67 to $17.37 per $1,000 of taxable value. For an owner with a home assessed at $200,000, the property tax increase would be $282 a year, or $23.50 a month.

Businesses, unions support ‘yes’ vote

The entities that have donated money to the “yes” campaign, according to state records, include the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, Van Meter Chief Executive Officer and President Lura McBride, OPN Architects, Garling Construction, U.S. Bank, TrueNorth Companies, the New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative and local labor unions, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 125.

“We've definitely had some business support, which we greatly appreciate,” Drzycimski said. “Our unions have come through huge and these are the individuals, these are our experts when it comes to buildings and facilities. They're the ones that are in our schools now, making repairs when they need to happen. They recognize the investments that are needed in our schools to get them up to where they should be now and to make sure that they can be there and serving students well for years to come.”

For strategic, communications and canvassing support, the “yes” group paid $11,000 to Sage Strategies, a firm linked to state Rep. Sami Scheetz. Scheetz, who attended school in the district, is getting paid to work on the campaign, but Drzycimski said the team includes others who have helped with a website, making calls and sending texts and more.

“I'm a parent in the district, and I have a day job, and so we needed support there,” Drzycimski said. “I talked to a couple of different individuals or consulting groups about this, and what we knew we wanted is we wanted somebody who was local, we wanted somebody who had experience here and we wanted somebody who was supportive of the bond … I've never run a campaign like this before, and so we had to have somebody that could help us out with that.”

The “vote yes” group reported $1,159 remained in the campaign coffers heading into Election Day.

What about the opponents?

Because there is not a formally organized “vote no” group, opponents did not file a campaign finance report. Opponents have placed yard signs in front of their houses asking for people to vote against the measure, raising some questions about whether the signs need attribution.

Zach Goodrich, director of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, said the signs — if under 32 square feet — do not need a “paid for by” attribution.

Goodrich looked at photos of two “no” yard signs sent him by The Gazette.

“For these two … it's pretty clear that they were done in an almost individual capacity.”

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