Cedar Rapids school district land buy answers a key question

When Cedar Rapids schools asked voters to approve a $220 million bond issue in November 2023, an unanswered question was a major factor in the referendum’s sound defeat.

The district is going to build a new middle school, but where will it be?

On Monday, the school board answered that question.

Board members voted to spend $7.5 million to buy 51 acres of land along Ushers Ferry Road and Highway 100 on the city’s northeast side. The land would become the site of a new middle school replacing Harding Middle School, according to reporting by The Gazette’s Grace King.

The new school would be included in a $177 to $189 million bond issue district leaders hope to put on the ballot in November. The district’s plan for a new middle school is no longer a mystery.

“The acquisition of this land is more than just an investment in real estate; it’s an investment in our community’s future,” Cedar Rapids district Superintendent Dr. Tawana Grover said in a press release.

Of course, we don’t expect the measure to sail to passage now that a site has been picked. Persuading voters to raise their property taxes is always a tough sell, especially in a state that requires a bond issue to receive 60% of the vote to pass.

Already, there has been criticism of the district using Physical Plant and Equipment Fund dollars for the land purchase. The district says these are “holdover” funds that accumulated over the last decade.

Buying land for a new school is a legal use of PPEL. And it makes sense to lock down the site, which is in a growing area of the metro.

“I applaud the district’s decision to place the new middle school in a high-growth, opportunity-rich area in order to meet our city’s evolving needs,” Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said in an email to The Gazette.

“At the same time, it is essential to balance this progress by reinvesting in our existing middle schools, ensuring they, too, reflect the excellence all our students and families deserve,” O’Donnell said.

We think it’s the right call at the right time. And it lends a new measure of transparency to the bond vote debate ahead.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com