Voters approve $33 million levy in District 91 to build new elementary school
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IDAHO FALLS — Voters overwhelmingly passed a 10-year $33 million plant facilities levy in Idaho Falls School District 91 Tuesday.
The district asked voters to approve the unconventional levy to build a new elementary school on the south side of Idaho Falls through a lease purchase agreement.
District Superintendent Jim Shank said he was thrilled over the passage of the levy.
“I think this is great for our community. Obviously it’s great for the kids who will be able to go into a building that will be better prepared to facilitate their needs,” Shank said. “It’s going to provide some relief to Sunnyside (Elementary) and all of the growth on that side of town, so we are very pleased that we had such a great turnout and that it was passed.”
According to the Bonneville County elections website, it passed with 69.60% voter approval and 30.40% voted against it.
The plant facilities levy required a 55% voter approval. The district opted to seek a large plant facilities levy to build the school as opposed to a general obligation school bond. A bond requires a supermajority 66.6% vote to pass. Read more about that decision here.
Shank said the new elementary school will be able to accommodate 500 to 600 kids. He said it will be located on 65th Street.
So what’s next?
“We will go into a request for qualifications process for architecture work and for the general contractor work that needs to be done. Once those come in, the (school) board will select who will proceed with the architectural work and the general contracting work,” Shank explained.
He added the intent is to build a similar school to one the district already has.
“For instance, like Edgemont or Longfellow or Dora Erickson or Ethel Boyes. That’s kind of the model we are looking at. We’ve built it four times. We have some experience with it. We’ll be making a few modifications,” Shank explained.
Shank says for the benefit of the kids, D91 wants to get this done as quickly as possible. Follow on D91’s Facebook page for updates.