New Cedar Rapids school bond referendum could go to voters in 2025

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids school leaders are planning to go back to district voters in November 2025 with a plan to fund improvements to middle and high schools after a $220 million bond referendum failed last month.

First, however, voters in the district will be asked to consider extending the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy for an additional 10 years. That’s an existing capital projects fund for the purchase and improvement of grounds, construction and remodeling of buildings, major equipment purchases including technology. This vote will go to voters in September 2024.

A Cedar Rapids schools’ master facility plan oversight committee is expected to discuss improvements that would be funded by PPEL and how district officials could work with residents and city officials to develop and educate the community on a new bond plan.

The purpose of the oversight committee is to monitor and report to the Cedar Rapids school board on compliance with the district’s facility master plan and to provide counsel to district administration to help promote the plan within the community. The committee is made up business representatives, parents and other volunteers. Members are approved each July by the school board.

The committee meets at 4 p.m. Monday at the Educational Leadership and Support Center, 2500 Edgewood Rd. NW, Cedar Rapids.

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Cedar Rapids Superintendent Tawana Grover said the district is inviting proposals from outside firms to help “engage and mobilize” the community ahead of the two votes.

“We heard overwhelmingly through the vote in November that our constituents were not happy with the plan they were voting on,” said Chad Schumacher, operations director for the Cedar Rapids district. “That message was loud and clear. We need to engage those people that weren’t happy with the plan who possibly voted no and ask why.”

Only about 38 percent of district voters supported the $220 million bond issuance, far short of the 60 percent needed for approval.

Schumacher’s first day on the job was Oct. 19, mere weeks before the failed vote. Former operations director Jon Galbraith left the district in September after he was hired as the chief financial and operating officer for the Linn-Mar Community School District.

“Without understanding the obstacles, it’s going to be very difficult for us to make a plan to take back to voters. … We’re not going to recreate the wheel, go back to square one and say let’s forget all the things we’ve already learned,” Schumacher said. “We are going to do a lot more purposeful and meaningful engagement with our stakeholders, so we can understand exactly what it is they’re looking for our community.”

The districts’ middle and high schools — which were the focus of the failed November referendum — still “need attention,” he said.

District officials still plan to propose decreasing the number of middle schools from six to strengthen the district’s feeder school system. Under the model, students in elementary school will continue to the same middle school and eventually to the same high school as their classmates — creating a more cohesive learning experience, educators say.

50 Years of PPEL support

Voters last approved a 10-year extension of PPEL in September 2014. These funds support the maintenance and upkeep of the Cedar Rapids schools’ 425 acres and 2.7 million square feet of building space. This includes

Before 2014, the voter-supported PPEL remained at 34 cents, combined with the 33 cents for every $1,000 of assessed valuation a school board can levy without taking it to voters. Combined, that generated only about $4 million a year for the district.

“We were using bubble gum and tape just trying to hold it together,” Schumacher said as the reason why the district asked voters to approve the maximum PPEL about of $1.34 for every $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Cedar Rapids voters rejected the initial proposal to increase PPEL in fall 2013, when it garnered only 43 percent of the district vote, falling short of the simple majority approval needed to pass, The Gazette reported at the time.

PPEL was taken back to district voters a year later in September 2014, when it was ultimately approved. That expires next year, which is why the district is taking it back to voters again — asking for $1.34 for every $1,000 of assessed valuation, creating between $10 to $12 million in revenue for the district. That includes the 33 cents the district is allowed to spend on its own.

If approved, the extension would not raise the existing PPEL tax rate. However, it still wouldn’t create enough revenue for the district to build new schools — but it is important for maintaining buildings, Schumacher said.

“That’s really pretty awesome to think our community has said yes to PPEL for 50 years,” he said.

In the last decade, more than $100 million in PPEL was spent on infrastructure in the Cedar Rapids Community School District. The district keeps an online record of the hundreds of projects completed with funds from PPEL at crschools.us/departments/operations/building-grounds/physical-plant-equipment-levy

“We fulfilled our 10-year PPEL promise,” Schumacher said.

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