Scaled-back $117M Cedar Rapids bond proposal removes plan for new middle school

CEDAR RAPIDS — Hoping to build community support after surveys showed only tepid backing for their initial school bond proposal, Cedar Rapids school leaders are recommending a scaled-back version that could go to voters in November.

The new proposal is about half the cost of the initial $211 million plan and no longer includes building a new middle school that would replace Harding.

The revised $117 million plan will be presented at 5:30 p.m. Monday to the Cedar Rapids school board, meeting at the Educational Leadership and Support Center at 2500 Edgewood Rd. NW. The school board is expected to decide May 12 whether to put a measure before district voters on the November ballot.

Here’s what is included

Added to the proposal is a $25 million plan to renovate Roosevelt Creative Corridor Business Academy — a middle school in northwest Cedar Rapids — to accommodate students from Wilson Middle School, which would become an elementary school, and address school safety and operational efficiency issues.

The classroom renovations are “not just carpet and paint,” said Chad Schumacher, Cedar Rapids district’s operations director.

  Buy Photo

“We’re talking about making sure learning spaces are what they need to be for today’s instructional practices and looking at cocurricular classes like art, orchestra and band to make sure those spaces are up to the standards of other middle schools in this area,” Schumacher said.

No longer included is a plan to build an addition to McKinley STEAM Academy. However, it still earmarks $45 million in the proposed bond for renovations to the historic building in southeast Cedar Rapids to address school safety, operational efficiency and student capacity issues.

“We want to honor and keep the historic pieces within the buildings while bringing in new, modern spaces. The exterior facade will primarily stay the same on all the buildings. You’ll still see that beautiful architecture,” Schumacher said.

This is what else will remains in the proposed $117 million bond plan:

  Buy Photo

“The bond allows us to address four projects, but it has a bigger impact on all our schools across the district,” Schumacher said. “The more we can improve or replace our current buildings, the more we can start to reallocate PPEL money away from HVAC units and roof replacements — things that are more maintenance-based.”

“Instead, we can invest in projects like auditorium seating, turf fields and playgrounds — things that could start to really improve our facilities,” he said.

PPEL — or the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy — is a property tax levy renewed by voters in September 2024 that can be used to fund school improvements and routine and unexpected maintenance projects.

Taxpayer impact

A $117 million bond issue would cost the owner of a $200,000 home in the Cedar Rapids school district about $7.47 a month or $89.60 per year — about half the impact of the $211 million proposal. Under either proposal, the Cedar Rapids district would continue to have the lowest school property tax rates in Linn County and one of the lowest rates in the wider region.

The property tax levy for fiscal 2026 — which begins July 1 — is expected to be $13.64 per $1,000 of taxable valuation and is a decrease from the current fiscal year. The Cedar Rapids school board also will vote on the tax rate Monday.

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

The plan — if approved — would save the school district $140.8 million in operational costs over the bond’s 20-year life cycle, or $6.48 million a year, Schumacher said. This means the district would see a return on investment of almost $24 million if the $117 million bond is approved.

More changes from the original proposal

The initial $211 million proposal included moving students from Franklin Middle School to McKinley STEAM Academy. But with McKinley no longer receiving an expansion under the plan — a cost reduction of $14 million — Franklin would remain a middle school with its current student body.

  Buy Photo

Also under the initial proposal, students at Metro High School — an alternative school in the Cedar Rapids Community School District — would have moved to Franklin and the Metro building removed from the district’s inventory. Now, Metro High School is remaining as is in southeast Cedar Rapids.

Jessica Johnson, principal of Harding Middle School — which is no longer part of the bond proposal — said she understands based on community feedback that now is not the time to make a large ask of taxpayers.

“If this is the difference in passing or not passing (the bond), we can’t afford as a district to not have anything,” Johnson said.

The district in January purchased a 51-acre plot near Highway 100 and Ushers Ferry Road for construction of a new middle school to replace Harding. While there is no timeline for when a middle school would be built on the site or proposed funding for the project, the land will remain in the district’s inventory.

  Buy Photo

School officials met with more than 500 staff, families, students and community members this month to gather feedback on the revised facility plan. The feedback “has allowed us to be really responsive and put together the best bond proposal most likely to pass,” said Johnson, who was a member of the Future Ready Facilities Task Force that helped school officials create several options for a referendum.

Another poll to be administered by the Economic Alliance

The Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance is again commissioning a poll to gauge how voters might respond to the proposed $117 million bond.

Ron Corbett, vice president of economic development, said the alliance plans to survey 500 people by phone before the school board vote May 12.

In February, an Economic Alliance poll found that 55 percent of respondents would “likely or definitely” vote for the then-$211 million proposed referendum — up from the 38 percent approval the district received the last time it sought a referendum in 2023, but still shy of the 60 percent supermajority required under Iowa law.

A Cedar Rapids schools’ survey released earlier this month found even less support than the alliance poll for a $211 million bond: 41 percent of respondents were for the bond, while 15 percent said they were undecided and 44 percent said they would oppose it.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com